• 
v  /  7 — 

REESE    LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Accessions  No.  ^3 £j  shelf  No..     " 


BORDELLO'S  STORY 


RETOLD   IN   PROSE 


BY 

ANNIE  WALL 


jSjUFQRB!^ 

3If  AND  NEW  YO1 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

$rej 

1886 


Copyright,  1886, 
Br  ANNIE  WALL. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge  : 
Hectrotyped  and  Printed  by  II.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


n  £7 


To 
MY  FRIENDS  OF  THE  "SORDELLO  CLUB" 

<$W  Hitrte  SSooft 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
THE  PLEASANT  HOURS  WHEN  WE.  HEARD 

BORDELLO'S  STORY 
TOLD. 


Ma  vedi  la  un  anima,  ch'  a  posta 

Sola  soletta  verso  noi  riguarda ; 

Quella  ne  insegnera  la  via  piu  tosta. 
Veniraino  a  lei,  O  anima  lombarda, 

Come  ti  stavi  altera  e  disdegnosa, 

E  nel  muover  degli  occhi  onesta  e  tarda  ? 
Ella  non  ci  diceva  alcuna  cosa ; 

Ma  lasciavane  gir,  solo  guardando, 

A  guisa  di  leon,  quando,  si  posa. 
Pur  Virgilio  si  trasse  a  lei  pregando 

Che  ne  mostrasse  la  miglior  salita ; 

E  quella  non  rispose  al  suo  dimando ; 
Ma  di  nostro  paese,  e  della  vita 

Ci  chiese.     E  '1  dolce  Duca  ineominciava ; 

Mantova.     E  1'  ombra,  tutta  in  se  romita, 
Surse  ver  lui  del  luogo  ove  pria  stava, 

Dicendo ;  O  Mantovano,  io  son  Sordello, 

Delia  tua  terra.     E  1'  un  1'  altro  abbraciava. 
DANTE,  Purgatorio,  Canto  vi.,  verses  58-76. 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION. 


Soleva  Roma,  che  ?1  buon  mondo  feo, 

Due  Soli  aver ;  che  1'  una  e  1'  altra  strada 
Facean  vedere  e  del  Mondo,  e  del  Dio. 

L'  un  1'  altro  ha  spento,  ed  e  giunta  la  spada 
Col  pastorale  ;  e  1'  un  col  altro  insieme 
Per  viva  forza  mal  convien  che  vada ; 

Perocche,  giunti  1'  un  1'  altro  non  teme. 

DANTE,  Purgatorio,  Canto  17,  Verses  106-112. 


/TV"  Of    TH£ 

fflJl     VERSITY 


HISTOKICAL  INTRODUCTION. 

|HE  scene  of  "  Bordello  "  is  laid  in 
Lombardy,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  when  Freder 
ick  II.  is  Emperor,  and  Honorius  III.  Pope. 
It  is  needful  that  we  should  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  political  and  social  condi 
tion  of  Italy  at  that  period,  if  we  wish  to 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  poem,  to  enjoy 
its  historical  allusions  or  be  able  in  any  way 
to  comprehend  the  problems  that  vexed  Sor- 
dello's  soul. 

The  empire  of  Charles  the  Great,  which 
he  ruled,  as  he  believed,  by  divine  commis 
sion,  had  included  nearly  all  of  western 
Christendom,  but  the  revived  empire  of  Otto 
the  Great,  established  early  in  the  tenth 
century,  consisted  of  Germany  and  Lorn- 


io  Historical  Introduction. 

bardy,  with  the  Romagna,  and  to  this  Bur 
gundy  was  afterwards  added;  and  it  was 
Otto  who  fixed  the  principle  that  to  the 
German  king  belonged  the  Roman  crown. 

The  friend  and  protector  of  the  church, 
Charles  had  always  held  himself  the  Pope's 
superior,  and  Otto  and  his  immediate  suc 
cessors  gained  many  privileges  in  respect  to 
papal  elections. 

The  crown  of  Germany  was  elective,  al 
though  often  passing  in  one  family  for  sev 
eral  generations,  and  to  the  elected  King  of 
the  Franks,  as  he  was  called,  came  of  right, 
it  was  understood,  the  crowns  of  Burgundy, 
Lombardy  and  the  Roman  Empire,  the  lat 
ter  bestowed  by  the  Pope  at  Rome. 

Pope  and  Emperor  were  supposed  to  be 
the  vicars  of  God  on  earth  in  spiritual  and 
temporal  affairs,  equal  and  coordinate.  But 
the  theory  was  rarely  observed  in  practice, 
and  the  culmination  of  the  struggle  for  su 
premacy  between  the  two  powers  took  place 
in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  of 
Fraiiconia,  and  the  papacy  of  Gregory  VII., 
the  famous  Hildebrand. 


Historical  Introduction.  n 

It  was  the  struggle  between  church  and 
state,  which  had  already  occurred  on  a 
smaller  scale  in  various  cases,  and  which 
shortly  after  broke  out  in  England  in  the 
dispute  between  Henry  II.  and  Becket. 

The  quarrel  ended  in  a  compromise,  in 
which  most  of  the  gains  were  on  the  side  of 
the  papacy,  and  it  was  renewed  with  great 
fierceness  in  the  reign  of  Frederick  I.  of  Ho- 
henstaufen,  called  the  Red  Beard,  who  came 
to  the  throne  in  1152,  and  who,  desiring  to 
vindicate  the  claims  of  his  office  to  equal 
sanctity  with  that  of  his  opponent,  bestowed 
upon  the  Empire  the  title  of  The  Holy. 

The  cities  of  Lombardy,  commonwealths 
somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  those  of  an 
cient  Greece,  had  grown  to  be  very  rich  and 
strong,  and  although  ready  to  admit  the 
Emperor's  authority  in  theory,  were  strik 
ingly  averse  to  submitting  to  any  manifesta- 
tion  of  it  in  practice.  The  city  of  Milan, 
by  her  attacks  upon  a  weaker  neighbor,  who 
appealed  to  Frederick  for  aid,  began  a  war 
which  resulted  in  the  Peace  of  Constance  in 


12  Historical  Introduction. 

1183,  by  which  the  Caesar  abandoned  all 
but  a  nominal  authority  over  the  Lombard 
League,  which  in  the  long  contest  had  re 
ceived  aid  from  the  Pope,  and  hence,  al 
though  some  of  the  cities  were  strongly  im 
perialist,  was  mainly  papal  in  its  sympathies. 
The  son  and  successor  of  Frederick,  Henry 
VI.,  married  Constance,  the  heiress  of  the 
Norman  kingdom  of  Sicily,  which  was  a 
fief  of  the  papal  crown,  and  thenceforth  a 
new  point  of  quarrel  between  Pope  and  Em 
peror. 

On  the  death  of  Henry  came  his  brother, 
Philip,  who,  being  shortly  afterwards  mur 
dered,  made  way  for  Otto  of  Saxony,  a 
nephew  of  John  of  England.  But  trouble 
arising  between  Otto  and  the  Pope,  he  was 
finally  deposed,  and  his  place  filled  by  Fred 
erick,  the  son  of  Henry  VI.  and  Constance 
of  Sicily,  who  had  been  chosen,  during  his 
father's  lifetime,  King  of  the  Romans,  but 
was  set  aside,  as  too  young  to  govern,  in 
behalf  of  his  uncle,  Philip,  and,  curiously 
enough,  considering  his  future  relations  to 


Historical  Introduction.  13 

the  papacy,  was,  in  his  early  years,  the  ward 
of  Innocent  III. 

Frederick,  stupor  mundi  et  immutator 
mirabilisi  as  Matthew  Paris  calls  him,  re 
ceived  the  German  crown  at  Aachen  in 
1215,  the  imperial  crown  at  Rome  in  1230, 
and  died  in  1250  at  Florentine,  worn  out 
with  perpetual  struggles  and  under  the  ban 
of  the  Pope.  When  young  he  had  assumed 
the  cross,  and  the  Church  thereby  acquired 
a  hold  over  him  which  was  never  aban 
doned,  while  disputes  in  reference  to  Sicily 
soon  arose  between  him  and  Honorius. 

When  tidings  came  of  the  misfortunes 
which  had  befallen  the  French  crusaders  in 
Egypt  and  the  loss  of  Damietta,  —  mishaps 
really  due  to  the  bad  conduct  of  the  cru 
saders  themselves,  —  the  Pope  attributed 
them  to  Frederick's  failure  to  fulfil  his 
vow.  The  exigencies  of  the  time,  however, 
seemed  to  require  the  Emperor's  presence 
at  home,  nor  was  the  crusading  spirit  then 
especially  prevalent  in  Europe. 

John  of  Brienne,  the  dethroned  king  of 


14  Historical  Introduction. 

Jerusalem,  wandered  from  court  to  court, 
vainly  seeking  aid  to  recover  his  crown,  and 
in  1235,  Frederick,  who  had  married  his 
daughter,  Jolande,  declared  her  claims  to  be 
better  than  her  father's,  which  were  asserted 
only  in  right  of  his  late  wife.  He  then  as 
sumed  for  himself,  in  virtue  of  Jolande's 
heirship,  the  title  of  king,  and  soon  after 
began  to  fit  out  an  expedition  for  the  re 
covery  of  the  kingdom. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  disturbances 
Honorius  died,  and  his  place  was  filled  by  a 
man  of  great  ability,  the  aged  Cardinal 
Ugolino,  who  assumed  the  title  of  Gregory 
IX.,  and  issued  a  mandate  to  the  princes  of 
Christendom  for  an  immediate  crusade. 

Frederick  assembled  a  fleet  at  Brindisi, 
where  the  plague  fell  upon  his  army,  cutting 
off  many,  among  others  the  Landgrave  of 
Thuringia,  the  husband  of  St.  Elizabeth  of 
Hungary. 

The  squadron  set  sail,  but  the  Emperor 
falling  ill  himself,  his  return  was  unavoid 
able,  though  it  brought  down  a  speedy  ex- 


Historical  Introduction.  15 

communication  upon  his  head ;  he  issued,  in 
reply,  an  address  to  the  sovereigns  of  Eu 
rope,  in  which  he  stated  his  reasons  for  re 
turning,  and  called  upon  all  to  resist  the 
intolerable  assumptions  of  the  papacy. 
"  Your  own  houses,"  wrote  he,  "  are  in  dan 
ger,  when  your  neighbor's  is  in  flames  !  " 

Again  excommunicated,  Frederick  set 
forth  at  last,  with  a  fleet  of  some  twenty 
sail,  "  more  like  a  pirate  than  a  prince," 
said  Gregory,  and  landed  at  Ptolemais, 
where  he  was  coldly  received  by  the  various 
parties,  who,  for  the  moment,  hushed  their 
constant  bickerings  to  insult  the  temporal 
head  of  Christendom. 

The  Sultan  of  Babylon  (Cairo),  Malek 
Kameel,  was  engaged  at  that  moment  in  a 
quarrel  with  Malek  Moadhim,  the  Sultan  of 
Damascus,  and  was  disposed  to  give  some 
privileges  to  the  Christians  if  he  could 
thereby  weaken  his  enemy.  He  accordingly 
treated  with  Frederick  for  Jerusalem  and 
the  surrounding  territory,  which  were  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  while 


1 6  Historical  Introduction. 

civil  rights  and  the  exclusive  possession  of 
the  Mosque  of  Omar  were  secured  to  the 
Moslems.  But  the  Holy  City  itself  was 
placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Church,  and 
the  Patriarch  refusing  to  perform  the  coro 
nation  ceremony,  Frederick  set  the  crown 
upon  his  head  with  his  own  hand,  after 
wards  placing  a  second  diadem  upon  the 
brow  of  his  wife. 

It  was  a  bloodless  triumph,  but  it  drew 
down  upon  the  victor  a  storm  of  reproach, 
as  if  never  before  had  treaties  been  made  be 
tween  Christian  and  Mohammedan  princes  ; 
papal  intrigues  hastened  his  return,  nor  did 
the  quarrel  end  until  the  death  of  Gregory. 

In  an  evil  hour  for  Frederick  the  choice 
of  a  new  Pope  fell  upon  a  Genoese  cardinal, 
upon  whom  he  had  conferred  many  favors, 
and  who,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  one  of 
his  staunch  supporters.  "  In  the  Cardinal," 
said  Frederick,  to  some  one  who  congratu 
lated  him  on  the  election,  "  I  have  lost  my 
best  friend  ;  in  the  Pope  I  shall  find  my 
worst  enemy.  No  Pope  can  be  a  Ghibel- 
line." 


Historical  Introduction.  77 

In  a  council  summoned  in  1245  at  Lyons, 
the  Pope,  Innocent  IV.,  who  found  the  gen 
eral  sentiment  of  Europe  among  princes  and 
people,  and  even  largely  among  Church 
men,  to  be  opposed  to  him,  proposed  to  try 
his  case  against  Frederick. 

But  the  Emperor's  lawyer  found  that  no 
justice  was  to  be  looked  for,  and  in  an  able 
speech  he  appealed  from  that  to  a  future 
tribunal,  from  the  Pope,  who  was  his  sover 
eign's  enemy,  to  one  more  just  hereafter. 
Vainly  did  French  and  English  envoys  re 
monstrate,  for  even  the  pious  St.  Louis  and 
the  priest-ridden  Henry  III.  disapproved  of 
Innocent's  conduct,  the  Pope  was  resolved 
upon  his  course. 

Without  taking  the  vote  of  the  Council 
he  rose  from  his  seat  in  the  midst  of  the 
panic-stricken  Churchmen,  and  declared  the 
Emperor  to  be  excommunicated  and  de 
posed,  and  his  "subjects  absolved  from  their 
allegiance,  the  sentence  being  accompanied 
by  the  extinction  of  torches  and  other  cere 
monial,  "  while  the  general  awe  was  height- 


1 8  Historical  Introduction. 

ened  by  the  appearance  of  a  meteor,  which, 
as  the  words  were  spoken,  shot  across  the 
sky." 

At  this  juncture  Frederick  made  the  mis 
take  of  confounding  the  cause  of  the  Pope, 
then  everywhere  unpopular,  with  that  of  the 
clergy  at  large ;  he  lost  his  self-control  and 
indulged  in  vituperations  of  the  whole  body, 
which  caused  many  of  his  strongest  sup 
porters,  the  German  prelates,  to  fall  away 
from  him,  and  rendered  his  cause  less  gen 
erally  favored. 

Five  years  of  warfare  ensued,  and  in  1250 
Frederick  expired,  in  the  arms  of  his  son 
Manfred,  who  succeeded  him  in  Sicily, 
leaving  behind  him  a  fame  which  not  even 
papal  hatred  could  destroy. 

In  Germany,  the  great  Churchmen  were 
long  on  his  side,  and  when  they  fell  away, 
his  barons,  many  of  them  old  enemies, 
rallied  about  him.  His  legislation  was  far 
in  advance  of  any  other  of  his  time,  and  in 
some  respects,  in  regard  to  agriculture  and 
commerce,  appears  to  have  anticipated  tho 


Historical  Introduction.  /p 

most  advanced  thought  of  to-day ;  in  Sicily 
he  liberated  the  Commons  from  the  tyranny 
of  feudal  lords  and  ecclesiastical  rule,  freed 
the  serfs  upon  his  own  estates,  and  legalized 
ownership  of  property  by  that  class ;  made 
justice  easily  accessible  to  all,  established 
semi-annual  parliaments  where  the  cities 
appeared  by  their  delegates,  entered  into 
commercial  treaties  with  the  great  sea-faring 
nations  of  the  day,  and,  like  Elizabeth  of 
England,  engaged  in  many  ventures  on  his 
own  account. 

He  founded  schools  and  universities,  and 
Greek  being  then  the  spoken  language  of  a 
large  part  of  his  people,  its  literature  was 
carefully  preserved,  and  might  never  have 
passed  from  the  knowledge  of  Europe,  had 
the  rule  of  his  house  continued  in  Sicily. 

His  knowledge  of  Arabic  opened  to  him 
many  famous  wrorks,  and  he  ordered  many 
translations  to  be  made  from  that  language 
and  the  Greek  for  the  use  of  his  subjects, 
that  of  Aristotle  being  intrusted  to  one  of 
his  chief  advisers,  a  scholar  from  a  far-off 


2O  Historical  Introduction. 

northern  land,  "  the  wizard,"  Michael  Scott. 
Literature  and  Art  could  not  fail  to  flourish 
under  a  prince  who  was  himself  philosopher 
and  poet  ;  Greek  and  Arabian  writers 
thronged  his  court,  the  Minnesaenger  of 
Germany,  the  Troubadours  of  Provence  and 
Guienne,  and  the  French  Trouveres  wan 
dered  over  the  Alps  to  join  their  brethren 
in  minstrelsy,  and  the  Italian  Muse  sang  her 
first  songs  in  the  sweet  Sicilian  tongue. 

Spite  of  a  professed  acceptance  of  the 
doctrines  current  in  his  time,  Frederick  II. 
was  accounted  as  being  far  from  orthodox 
in  his  religious  opinions.  His  sarcastic  wit 
often  shocked  an  age  peculiarly  reverential 
of  forms,  and  his  tolerance  of  the  beliefs  of 
others  could  then  be  explained  only  on  the 
supposition  that  he  had  lost  his  own.  More 
over,  the  irregularities  of  his  private  life  and 
his  occasional  outbursts  of  cruelty  laid  him 
open  to  deserved  censure.  It  is  not  strange 
that  his  faith  in  church  doctrines  should  have 
been  weakened  by  the  cruel  injustice  which 
he  suffered  from  the  Church's  head,  and  we 


Historical  Introduction.  21 

can  easily  believe  that  a  man  of  his  intel 
lectual  powers  might  have  glimpses  of  some 
thing  better  than  the  average  theology  of 
the  day  ;  it  is  quite  certain  also  that  most 
rulers  of  that  period  resembled  him  far 
more  in  his  defects  than  in  his  excellences, 
and  that  his  ruined  life  was  an  irreparable 
misfortune  to  Europe. 

The  strife  in  the  reign  of  Frederick  II. 
was  not,  says  Dean  Milman,  "  for  any  spe 
cific  point  in  dispute,  like  the  right  of  inves 
titure,  but  avowedly  for  supremacy  on  one 
side,  which  hardly  deigned  to  call  itself  in 
dependence  ;  for  independence  on  the  other, 
which,  remotely  at  least,  aspired  after  su 
premacy.  Caesar  would  bear  no  superior, 
the  successor  of  St.  Peter  no  equal."  1 

Too  far  in  advance  of  his  age  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  it,  prevented  by  force  of 
circumstances  from  pursuing  a  consistent 
imperial  policy,  Frederick,  the  wonder  of 
the  world  though  he  was,  failed  to  produce 

1  It  was  a  saying-  in  Rome  that  Caesar  would  brook  no 
superior,  Pompey  no  equal. 


22  Historical  Introduction. 

upon  his  time  any  impression  commensurate 
with  his  vast  abilities ;  yet  he  did  much,  and 
the  fruits  of  his  legislation  in  Germany  were 
reaped  in  a  later  reign,  while  untold  pros 
perity  might  have  been  the  result  in  Sicily, 
but  for  the  French  invasion  and  the  ensuing 
wars. 

As  for  Frederick  himself,  he  remains  for 
us  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  interesting 
actors  upon  the  stage  of  the  world's  history, 
the  most  splendid  figure  in  the  most  splendid 
of  imperial  houses,  a  man  whose  faults  were 
largely  due  to  his  position  and  the  time  ir* 
which  he  lived,  whose  virtues  and  transcen 
dent  powers  were  all  his  own. 

Nothing  could  well  have  been  more  stormy 
than  life  in  a  mediaeval  Italian  city,  where 
an  hundred  questions  complicated  politics  in 
a  most  perplexing  fashion.  There  were 
Ghibelline  cities,  or  those  that  sided  with 
the  Emperor  in  his  perennial  quarrel  with 
the  Pope,  and  Guclfic  cities,  or  those  which 
supported  the  Papal  cause,  but  in  each  was 


Historical  Introduction.  2} 

to  be  found  a  minority  of  the  opposite  party. 
Every  city,  moreover,  had  her  ever-recurring 
disputes  with  the  baron  most  influential  in 
her  territory,  while  the  great  burgher-fami 
lies  mingled  party  politics  with  private 
feuds.  The  strife  was  waged  with  horrible 
cruelty ;  burning  houses,  murdered  men,  wo 
men  and  children  were  no  rare  sights  in 
those  days ;  good  faith  was  rare,  and  treaties 
seemed  made  but  to  be  broken.  The  cities, 
which  were  commonwealths  much  after  the 
old  Greek  type,  had  grown  rapidly  in  wealth 
and  power,  due  largely  to  the  development 
of  the  industrial  arts,  but  their  literature 
was,  as  yet,  of  foreign  growth,  and  the  fine 
arts  were  awaiting  that  full  glory  that  was 
to  come  from  the  flood  of  Hellenic  light 
that  was  to  waken  them  to  new  and  diviner 
life  and  splendors. 

In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries 
there  had  been  developed  a  rich  and  bril 
liant  literature,  —  that  of  the  Langue  d'Oc. 

The  name  of  Romance  has  been  applied 


24  Historical  Introduction. 

to  those  languages  which  were  spoken  in 
Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain,  and  which  were 
formed  from  a  mixture  of  the  common 
speech  of  Roman  colonists  and  soldiers  with 
the  language  of  conquered  Gauls  and  con 
quering  Germans.  Distinct  from  the  classic 
Latin  of  the  Schools,  the  Law,  and  the 
Church,  they  were  despised  as  bad  Latin 
for  a  long  time,  but  gradually  formed  them 
selves  into  groups,  which  we  recognize  to-day 
as  Italian,  French,  Provencal,  Spanish,  etc. 
The  ProvenQal  or  Langue  d'Oc  was 
spoken  in  Guienne  and  Poitou,  Toulouse 
and  Provence  :  the  first  three  principalities 
acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  the  French 
king,  although  their  allegiance  sat  but  lightly 
upon  them ;  the  latter  was  a  portion  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  One  very  marked 
characteristic  of  their  civilization  was  the 
power  and  civil  freedom  of  their  great  cities, 
whose  institutions  dated  from  the  period  of 
Roman  occupation,  and  which  were  centres 
of  wealth,  learning,  and  refinement.  Their 
exquisite  language  had  here  become  highly 


Historical  Introduction.  25 

developed  and  polished  by  their  poets,  who 
sang  in  melodious  strains  of  love  and  war, 
of  the  spring-tide  with  its  flowers  and  birds, 
the  running  streams  that  sparkled  in  the 
sunshine,  the  blue  sky  that  bent  so  tenderly 
above  them. 

The  Troubadours,  as  their  poets  were 
called,  from  the  word  troubar,  to  invent, 
were  for  the  most  part  gay  gentlemen  and 
gallant  warriors,  who",  like  William  of  Ac- 
quitaine  and  Richard  the  Lion-Heart,  were 
equally  skillful  with  lance  and  lute,  or 
stately  dames,  like  Eleanor  of  Guienne  and 
Eleanor  of  Provence,  who  practiced  the  art 
upon  which  they  smiled. 

Moreover,  the  Troubadours  were  ardent 
in  devotion  to  some  ladye-fair,  in  honor  of 
whom  they  were  always  ready  to  indulge, 
not  only  in  high-flown  praise,  but  in  ex 
traordinary  and  fantastic  adventures,  worthy 
of  Don  Quixote  himself,  although  they  were 
far  less  constant  in  affairs  of  the  heart  than 
that  chivalrous  hero. 

The  Jongleurs,  or  professional  minstrels, 


26  Historical  Introduction. 

were  often  attached  to  the  personal  service 
of  a  great  baron  or  lady,  and  sang  the  songs 
of  the  Troubadours  more  commonly  than 
their  own,  while  they  frequently  added  to 
their  musical  attainments  great  proficiency 
in  sleight-of-hand  performances.  They  also 
sometimes  became  strolling  glee-men,  wan 
dering  from  place  to  place,  and  present  on 
fair  and  market-days,  accompanied,  it  might 
be,  by  an  ape,  who  was  trained  to  the  per 
formance  of  amusing  tricks. 

Life  was  rich  and  charming  in  Southern 
Gaul;  democratic  institutions  flourished  in 
her  cities,  her  fertile  soil, 

"  Where  new  pollen  on  the  lily-petal  grows 
And  still  more  labyrinthine  buds  the  rose," 

gave  abundantly  of  its  fruits,  and  man,  na 
ture,  and  art  rejoiced  together. 

But  freedom  of  thought  grew  up  in  thig 
free  atmosphere  ;  the  famous  heresy  of  the 
Albigenses,  so  called  from  the  city  of  Alby, 
in  the  county  of  Toulouse,  spread  over  the 
country,  and  was  supported  by  Count  Ray- 


Historical  Introduction.  27 

mond  himself,  while  it  provoked  the  wrath 
of  the  Pope  Innocent  III.,  who  found  in  the 
zeal  of  Montfort  and  the  cupidity  of  Philip 
Augustus  implements  ready  to  his  hand,  and 
the  thirty-years  horror  of  the  Albigensian 
war  trampled  out  the  fair  civilization  of 
Toulouse  in  fire  and  blood. 

But  the  Langue  d'Oc  not  only  obtained  in 
those  lands  where  it  was  the  speech  of  the 
people ;  its  literary  precedence  made  it  the 
court  language  of  the  kings  of  Aragon  and 
Navarre,  whose  sway  extended  at  that  time 
north  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  also  of  the 
princely  courts  of  northern  Italy,  whose 
poets  neglected  the  yet  rude  dialects  of  their 
own  land  in  favor  of  their  more  polished 
sister. 

About  this  time,  also,  is  the  period  of  the 
Trouveres,  the  poets  of  the  old  French,  or 
Langue  d'Oil,  who  give  us  the  chansons  de 
gestes,  among  which  stands  first  the  noble 
"  Song  of  Roland ; "  while  Germany,  like 
the  England  of  Elizabeth,  was  "  a  nest  of 
singing  birds."  The  Minnesaenger  were 


28  Historical  Introduction. 

the  contemporaries  of  the  Troubadours  and 
the  TrouvSres,  and  Barbarossa  and  his  son 
Henry  wrote  verses  in  German  and  Proven 
cal,  as  well  as  governed  empires,  and  led 
armies  into  battle. 

The  first  poets,  in  any  Italian  dialect, 
whose  works  remain,  were  the  poets  of 
Sicily,  who,  at  the  court  of  their  all-accom 
plished  master,  King  Frederick,  essayed  to 
sing  in  native  strains.  It  was  but  a  short 
lived  poetry,  however,  perishing  when  the 
promise  of  its  lovely  birth-place  was  de 
stroyed,  as  that  of  Toulouse  had  been,  by 
the  united  forces  of  the  papacy  and  the 
French,  and  it  was  reserved  for  the  Tuscan 
to  become,  through  the  genius  of  Dante,  the 
mistress  of  the  dialects  of  Italy. 

THE  GUELFS  AND  THE  GHIBELLINES. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Conrad 
III.  the  first  Hohenstaufen  Emperor,  the 
imperial  crown  was  contested  by  Henry  the 
Proud,  Duke  of  Saxony.  In  a  battle  be- 


Historical  Introduction.  29 

tween  the  opposing  parties  the  Saxons  used 
as  their  war-cry  the  name  of  their  leader, 
Duke  Henry's  brother,  Welf,  while  the 
Swabian  army  responded  with  shouts  of 
"  Waibling !  "  a  name  derived  from  that  of 
the  village  where  their  leader,  Conrad's 
brother,  had  been  born. 

The  names,  transplanted  into  Italy,  be 
came  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  and  long  sur 
vived  as  the  titles  of  two  hostile  political 
parties,  that  of  the  Popes  and  that  of  the 
Emperors. 

DANTE'S  IMPERIALISM. 

Dante's  ardent  imperialism  is  well  known 
to  all  who  have  read  the  story  of  "  the  ban 
ished  Ghibelline  ; "  but  it  is  quite  possible 
that  all  may  not  understand  in  precisely 
what  that  imperialism  consisted. 

He  accepted  absolutely  the  mediaeval  the 
ory  of  the  two  divinely-appointed  heads  of 
the  world,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal, 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.  He  lived  dur 
ing  the  pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.,  who 


}O  Historical  Introduction. 

arrogated  to  himself  temporal  as  well  as 
spiritual  supremacy,  showing  himself  to  the 
multitudes  who  thronged  the  streets  of 
Rome  during  the  Great  Jubilee  of  the  year 
1300,  seated  upon  a  throne,  and  holding  in 
his  hands  two  swords,  while  he  cried  with  a 
loud  voice,  "  I  am  Ca3sar ! " 

In  the  year  1312  that  wise  and  powerful 
sovereign,  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  came  to 
Rome,  where  he  received  the  golden  crown 
of  the  empire.  He  died  soon  after,  unhap 
pily,  and  with  him  perished  all  the  hopes  of 
the  Ghibellines,  but  he  was  the  ideal  ruler 
to  whom  the  Florentine  patriot  looked  for 
the  regeneration  of  the  world. 

Dante's  doctrinal  orthodoxy  is  testified  to 
by  the  fact  that,  although  he  praises  Fred 
erick  II.  for  good  laws  and  wise  government, 
he  has  plunged  him,  for  free-thinking,  into 
the  flames  of  hell ;  but  he  greatly  reprobated 
the  Popes'  assumption  of  temporal  sway, 
which  he  believed  contrary  to  their  duty  as 
spiritual  chiefs. 

To  Dante,  moreover,  who  had  witnessed 


Historical  Introduction.  31 

the  horrors  of  perpetual  civil  warfare,  who 
had  eaten  the  bitter  bread  of  exile  and  toil 
somely  climbed  "the  stairs  of  others,"  it 
seemed,  not  unnaturally,  that  the  one  earthly 
good  most  to  be  desired  is  peace.  This 
blessing  he  held  to  be  attainable  only  under 
the  sway  of  a  monarch,  the  divinely  ap 
pointed  Emperor,  who  was  placed  so  far 
above  the  strifes  and  jealousies  of  parties 
that  he  could  deal  impartial  justice,  and 
preserve  peace  and  orderly  rule  for  man 
kind. 

But  this  monarch,  all-powerful  though  he 
be,  "  is,"  says  Dean  Milman,  "  no  arbitrary 
despot,  but  a  constitutional  sovereign  ;  he  is 
the  Roman  Law  impersonated  in  the  Em 
peror  ;  a  monarch  who  should  leave  all  the 
nations,  all  the  free  Italian  cities,  in  posses 
sion  of  their  rights  and  old  municipal  insti 
tutions." 


}2  Historical  Introduction. 

CHIEF  PERSONS  OF  THE  POEM. 
GHIBELLINES. 

Frederick  II.  of  Hohenstaufen,  fourth 
King  and  Emperor  of  the  Swabian  House ; 
King  of  Germany,  Burgundy,  Lombardy, 
Sicily,  and  Jerusalem,  Emperor  of  the  Ro 
mans. 

Ecelin  of  Romano,  called  the  Monk ;  a 
great  Ghibelline  baron  of  Northern  Italy, 
the  most  powerful  noble  in  the  Trevisan 
March.  He  rose  to  power  under  previous 
emperors,  and  was  much  favored  by  Freder 
ick,  but  was  now  desirous  of  retiring  from 
the  world.  He  was  one  of  the  Paterini 
(the  sufferers,  or  the  resigned),  a  sect  akin 
to  the  Albigenses  of  southern  Gaul,  to  the 
Italian  Cathari  and  the  Armenian  Pauli- 
cians.  They  included  in  their  number  not 
only  many  of  the  townsfolk,  but  of  the 
barons  of  Lombardy.  Like  their  Northern 
brethren  they  were  proceeded  against  with 
great  cruelty  by  the  Popes.  A  crusade  was 
inaugurated  against  them  under  the  lead  of 


Historical  Introduction.  33 

the  Preaching  Friars,  and  many  hundreds 
were  put  to  death.  Ecelin's  first  wife,  repre 
sented  in  the  poem  as  the  mother  of  Palma, 
was  Agnes,  the  sister  of  Azzo  of  Este ;  his 
last  was  Adelaide,  a  Tuscan  lady  ;  she  was 
the  mother  of  his  two  sons,  Ecelin  III., 
called  the  Tyrant,  and  Alberic,  who  suc 
ceeded  to  their  father's  lands  and  power  in 
Lombardy.  They  were  both  cruel  and  op 
pressive  in  their  rule,  and  both  were  finally 
slain  by  their  wretched  subjects. 

Taurdlo  Salinguerra,  a  great  warrior 
and  a  skillful  politician,  with  all  the  accom 
plishments  of  his  day.  He  is  devoted  to 
the  service  of  his  over-lord  Ecelin  of  Ro 
mano,  in  whose  interests  he  is  completely 
absorbed.  He  married  for  his  first  wife 
Retrude,  of  the  family  of  the  Hohenstaufen, 
who  perished  at  Vicenza  in  a  midnight  in 
surrection;  her  son  was  supposed  to  have 
perished  with  her,  but  was  saved,  and  is  the 
Sordello  of  our  story.  He  is  hidden  by 
Adelaide,  who  by  her  magic  arts  sees  in 
Taurello  those  signs  of  greatness  which 


34  Historical  Introduction. 

show  him  destined  to  accomplish  much  if  he 
have  an  end  to  work  for.  She  hopes  by  de 
priving  Taurello  of  his  child  to  secure  his 
entire  service  for  her  husband.  Salin- 
guerra's  subsequent  history  is  told  us  in  the 
poem. 

Palma,  otherwise  Cunizza,  is  the  daugh 
ter  of  Ecelin  the  Monk.  She  became  the 
wife  of  St.  Boniface,  and  the  heroine  of 
many  adventures.  Legend  says  that  she 
fell  in  love  with  Sordello,  for  whom  she  de 
serted  her  husband ;  she  was  afterwards 
twice  married.  Dante  places  her  in  Para 
dise,  in  the  Heaven  of  Venus.  She  is  rep 
resented  in  the  poem  as  desiring  to  marry 
Sordello,  whom  she  would  inspire  with  her 
own  Ghibelline  sentiments,  and  raise  to  a 
prominent  post  under  the  Emperor. 

Adelaide,  wife  of  Ecelin  the  Monk.  She 
is  said  to  have  practiced  magic  arts,  to  fore 
see  the  future,  to  learn  what  was  going  on 
at  a  distance,  and  to  restore  her  own  failing 
strength. 

Tito,  a  Tyrolese,  envoy  of  the  Emperor 
to  Taurello  Salinguerra. 


Historical  Introduction.  35 

GUELFS. 

Honorius  III.,  Pope.  He  died  in  1227. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  bent 
upon  enforcing  the  theory  of  the  papal  su 
premacy.  He  sanctioned  the  establishment 
of  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  Friars. 
The  quarrel  with  Frederick  in  regard  to  the 
Crusade  began  in  his  reign,  but  it  did  not 
come  to  extremities  until  the  pontificate  of 
his  successor,  Gregory  IX. 
Azzo,  Marquis  of  Este,  )  Lombard 

Count  Richard  of  St.  Boniface,  )  barons. 
The  Papal  Legate. 

Bordello.  The  Sordello  of  the  poem  is 
represented  as  the  supposed  son  of  an 
archer,  El  Corte  by  name,  who  has  been 
brought  up  by  Adelaide,  wife  of  Ecelin  of 
Romano,  at  her  castle  of  Goito.  His  father 
had  saved  the  life  of  Adelaide  and  her  son 
in  the  same  midnight  fray  in  which  the  wife 
and  child  of  Salinguerra  were  said  to  haye 


j6  Historical  Introduction. 

perished,  and  as  he  had  been  killed  in  the 
fight  his  son  has  been  cared  for  out  of  grati 
tude  for  the  father's  service.  The  youth  be 
comes  at  last  the  favored  minstrel  of  Ro 
mano's  daughter,  Palma,  who  gives  him  her 
love,  and  having  learned  his  true  parentage 
from  the  dying  Adelaide,  proclaims  Sordello 
to  be,  not  the  archer's  child,  but  the  son  of 
Taurello  Saiinguerra. 

As  for  the  Sordello  of  history  the  stories 
are  many  and  various  that  are  told  of  him, 
some  writers  thinking  that  there  were  two 
persons  of  the  same  name,  whose  deeds  have 
been  confounded,  —  the  one  the  Trouba 
dour,  the  other,  an  able  and  just  Podesta1  of 
Mantua.  One  writer  would  have  us  believe 
that  the  latter,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
Ghibelline,  is  the  Sordello  whom  Dante  and 
Virgil  meet  in  Purgatory,  and  to  whom  Ben- 
venuto  da  Imola  alluded  as  nolilis  et  pru- 
dens  miles  et  curialis. 

Raynouard,  in  his  "  Poetry  of  the  Trou- 

1  Head  of  the  city  government ;  generally  appointed 
by  the  Emperor. 


Historical  Introduction.  37 

badours,"  declares  him  to  have  been  a  Man- 
tuan,  the  son  of  a  poor  knight,  named  El 
Corte  ;  he  says,  that  being  fond  of  verse- 
making,  Sordello  came  to  the  court  of  Count 
Richard  of  St.  Boniface  at  Mantua,  where 
he  was  much  honored.  Here,  "  for  the 
sake  of  pastime,"  he  made  love  to  the 
Count's  wife,  Cunizza,  and  finally  ran  away 
with  the  lady,  being  urged  thereto  by  her 
brothers,  who  had  quarreled  with  Richard. 
He  afterwards  came  to  the  court  of  Ray 
mond  Berenger,  Count  of  Provence,  who, 
like  his  wife,  was  a  great  friend  of  poets, 
and  here  he  won,  not  only  great  renown,  but 
a  fine  castle  and  a  gentlewoman  for  his 
wife. 

The  Mantuan  Chroniclers  assert  that  he 
was  of  the  Visconti  family,  that  he  married 
the  daughter  of  Romano,  and  governed  well 
and  wisely  as  the  Emperor's  Podesta  and 
Vicar-General  of  Northern  Italy. 

A  Troubadour,  according  to  yet  another 
writer,  who  wrote  much  in  the  Provencal 
language,  not  of  love,  but  of  philosophy. 


$8  Historical  Introduction. 

Although  this  statement  seems  hardly  borne 
out  by  the  poems  that  remain,  it  may  have 
reference  to  some  of  those  of  which 
"  Naddo "  speaks  with  such  disapproval. 
One  of  his  most  famous  productions  is  a 
funeral  song  for  Blancasso,  a  distinguished 
knight  and  troubadour. 

According  to  still  another  biographer  he 
was  born  at  Goito,  a  village  near  Mantua, 
being  the  son  of  a  poor  knight,  El  Corte, 
and  became  St.  Boniface's  minstrel,  falling 
in  love  with  his  wife  and  taking  refuge  in 
Provence,  where  he  came  to  great  advance 
ment  ;  returning  thence  he  was  made  gov 
ernor  of  Mantua,  and  died  full  of  years  and 
honors. 

He  is  reported  to  have  received  the  prize 
of  bravery  in  a  tourney  from  St.  Lewis  of 
France. 

He  wrote  not  only  in  the  fashionable  Pro 
ven  cal,  but  also  in'  his  native  Italian,  al 
though  none  of  his  poems  in  the  latter  lan 
guage  remain. 

For  this  Dante,  in  his  treatise  De  Volgarl 


Historical  Introduction.  39 

Eloquio,  bestows  upon  him  great  praise. 
He  says  that  there  was  at  that  time  a  city- 
speech,  which  was  understood  by  all  culti 
vated  people  in  all  parts  of  Italy,  and  com 
mends  Bordello  that  he  made  use  of  this 
rather  than  of  a  country  dialect,  which  must 
be  comprehensible  to  but  few.  This,  also, 
is  the  reason  why  Browning  speaks  of  him 
as  the  precursor  of  Dante. 

It  has  been  said  that  like  most  of  the 
Troubadours,  Sordello  was  a  Ghibelline ;  in 
that  case  he  would  hardly  have  been  at 
tached  to  the  household  of  St.  Boniface,  or 
on  such  terms  with  that  bitter  foe  of  the 
Hohenstaufen,  the  cruel  Charles  of  Anjou, 
as  to  have  been  invited  by  the  latter  to  ac 
company  him  on  a  crusade.  The  minstrel's 
answer  reminds  us  of  the  passage  in  Brown 
ing's  poem,  in  which  our  hero  wishes  for 
"firmer  arm  and  fleeter  foot,  but  no  mad 
wings." 

"  My  Lord  Count,"  he  says,  "  you  ought 
not  thus  to  ask  one  to  face  death.  Every 
one  is  seeking  his  salvation  by  sea ;  but  for 


4O  Historical  Introduction. 

my  own  part  I  am  not  eager  to  obtain  it. 
My  wish  is  to  be  transported  to  another  life 
as  late  as  possible."  In  fact  it  would  seem 
as  if  Bordello  must  have  gradually  risen  to 
a  place  among  the  Troubadours,  who  were 
for  the  most  part  gentlemen  of  rank ;  his 
original  position  in  the  household  of  St. 
Boniface  being,  perhaps,  more  clearly  indi 
cated  by  the  term  Jongleur.  Still  we  do 
find  Jongleurs  who  were  knights  as  well; 
for  example  the  famous  Taillefer,  the  favor 
ite  minstrel  of  William  of  Normandy,  who 
rode  in  front  of  the  invading  army  at  the 
battle  of  Senlac,  tossing  his  sword  into  the 
air,  and  catching  it  as  it  fell,  while  he  sang 
gayly  the  "  Song  of  Roland." 

In  a  long  teuson,  or  poetical  debate,  be 
tween  Sordello  and  a  brother  Troubadour, 
we  find  the  question  under  discussion  to  be, 
which  is  preferable,  love  or  glory,  and  the 
Mantuan  pronounces  without  qualification 
in  favor  of  the  former. 

Still  another  tradition  seems  to  point  to 
him  as  a  son  of  Salinguerra,  and  this  Brown- 


Historical  Introduction.  41 

ing  has  adopted,  and  from  the  many  varying 
characteristics  has  shaped  his  hero,  whom 
we  must  accept  as  the  poet  has  given  him 
to  us,  holding  him,  for  the  time  at  least,  to 
be  the  Bordello,  not  only  of  the  poem,  but 
of  history  as  well. 

Unless  we  do  this  we  shall  miss  the  whole 
force  of  the  comparison  and  contrast  with 
Dante,  and  so  one  of  the  most  striking  feat 
ures  of  the  poem. 


THE  STOEY   OF  THE  POEM. 


SAY  not  the  struggle  naught  availeth, 
The  labor  and  the  wounds  are  vain, 

The  enemy  faints  not,  nor  faileth, 

And  as  things  have  been,  they  remain. 

If  hopes  were  dupes,  fears  may  be  liars, 
It  may  be,  hi  the  smoke  concealed ; 

Your  comrades  chase  even  now  the  fliers, 
And,  but  for  you,  possess  the  field. 

ARTHUR  HUGH  CLOUGH. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  POEM. 
BOOK  I. 

[O  will,"   says    Browning,   "  may 
hear  Bordello's  story  told." 

As  from  the  mountain-top  Don 
Quixote  beheld,  amid  the  dust  and  din  of 
multitudes,  the  great  king,  Pentapolin  of 
the  Iron  Arm,  struggling  bravely  in  the 
press,  so  the  poet  has  singled  out  a  fellow- 
singer,  seen  dimly  through  the  gloom  of 
"  six  long  sad  hundred  years,"  and  presents 
him  to  us. 

The  poem  opens  in  Verona,  a  city  of 
Lombardy,  in  the  early  part  of  the  thnv 
teenth  century,  when  Frederick  II.  is  Em 
peror,  and  Honorius  III.1  is  Pope.  The  old 

1  If  Sordello,  u  born  with  the  new  century,"  is  thirty 
years  old  when  the  story  opens,  it  might  seem  that  the 
Pope  should  be  Gregory  IX.  Honorius  died  in  1227  ;  an 
interregnum  of  two  years  followed,  when  Gregory  was 
chosen. 


46  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

strife  of  the  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines  is  go 
ing  on  as  usual ;  Count  Richard  of  St. 
Boniface,  the  Lord  of  Mantua,  has  allied 
himself  with  Azzo,  Marquis  of  Este,  to  over 
turn  the  power  of  Taurello  Salinguerra,  the 
right  hand  of  Ecelin  of  Romano,  who  is  the 
most  powerful  Ghibelline  baron  of  Northern 
Italy  and  much  trusted  by  the  Emperor. 

The  news  has  just  reached  Verona  that, 
caught  in  their  own  toils,  the  Guelfic  chiefs 
have  been  taken  captive  at  Ferrara,  and  the 
citizens  are  gathered  together  in  the  market 
place,  eagerly  discussing  the  event. 

"  Ah,"  says  one,  "  Taurello's  power  did 
certainly  seem  to  be  on  the  wane ;  Ecelin 
has  withdrawn  into  a  monastery,  where  he 
is  slowly  dying  of  a  wasting  sickness  ;  the 
Caesar  delays  his  coming,  looked  for  long 
since,  and  the  papal  party  has  been  gaining 
strength.  The  Guelfs  in  Ferrara  rebuilt 
their  ruined  houses,  believing  themselves  se 
cure  ;  it  has  even  been  asserted  that  two 
chiefs  of  the  rival  parties,  meeting  in  a  nar 
row  street,  crowded  full  of  Ghibellines,  act- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  47 

ually  passed  without  a  fight.  Such  a  state 
of  things  is  too  unnatural  to  last.  Then 
Taurello,  assuming  his  presence  to  be  the 
sole  obstacle  to  a  permanent  peace,  left  Fer- 
rara  for  Padua.  But  no  sooner  was  he  gone 
than  there  was  a  Guelfic  rising,  rioting  be 
gan,  —  lo !  in  an  instant  Taurello  was  in 
their  midst  and  took  a  signal  vengeance. 
Azzo  fled,  and,  returning  with  St.  Boniface, 
laid  siege  to  the  city ;  at  length  a  parley 
was  called,  and  the  two  Guelfs  entered  the 
town,  over  whose  deserted  streets  rested  an 
ominous  silence  ;  suddenly  they  were  seized 
with  all  their  train,  and  thrown  into  prison, 
and  Salinguerra  triumphed." 

Such  are  the  tidings  that  have  reached 
Verona,  and  all  are  agog  for  battle ! 

The  Emperor,  delaying  for  the  moment 
his  projected  crusade,  proposes  to  come  to 
Lombardy ;  he  is  very  unwilling  that  the 
Pope  should  succeed  in  regaining  any  of  the 
privileges  which  have  been  won  in  the  past 
by  Otto  the  Great  and  Barbarossa,  and  so 
defers  his  Syrian  expedition  until  matters 


48  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

are  more  settled  at  home ;  an  act  for  which 
he  is  excommunicated  by  Honorius.  "  Ece- 
lin's  father,"  say  the  Veronese,  "  was  Ecelo, 
who  came  into  power  under  Conrad  III.,  re 
ceiving  large  fiefs  in  Northern  Italy,  which 
he  has  transmitted  to  his  son,  the  present 
lord,  who  received  additional  favors  from 
Frederick  I.  Ecelin  is  Lord  of  Romano, 
high  in  imperial  favor,  and  the  father  of 
many  sons  and  daughters,  and,  despite  his 
hard  heart  and  sickly  person,  has  thriven 
greatly  in  the  world,  which  he  has  now  so 
inexplicably  resolved  to  abandon.  His  prime 
support  is  Salinguerra,  a  superb,  easy-going 
chieftain,  whose  life  has,  however,  been  a 
lonely  one.  Years  ago  wife  and  child  per 
ished  in  a  party  fray,  and  careless  of  him 
self,  he  has  bent  all  his  energies  to  prop 
the  House  of  Romano."  "  Are  these,"  ask 
the  Veronese  burghers,  "  the  leaders  to  com 
pare  with  Azzo  of  Este,  the  Guelfic  Lion  ?  " 
All  night  long  the  people  talk  and  listen; 
all  night  long  the  Twenty-Four,  the  magis 
trates  of  Verona,  sit  in  solemn  debate  to- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  49 

gether  ;  and  in  a  small  inner  chamber  of  the 
palace  are  Palma,  the  daughter  of  Romano, 
and  Bordello,  the  hero  of  our  tale,  the  pre 
cursor  of  Dante,  as  a  singer  in  the  native 
tongue  of  Italy.  Who  is  Sordello,  and  why 
is  he  here  in  the  secret  room,  with  the  great 
baron's  daughter  ?  This  is  the  story  which 
the  poet  proceeds  to  tell  us. 

About  the  city  of  Mantua  the  land  is  half 
slough  half  pine  forest,  with  water-courses 
fringed  with  scarlet-oaks  and  maples ;  in 
summer  even  the  Mincio  is  dry ;  but  in  win 
ter  it  is  one  broad  morass,  but  half  redeemed 
by  human  toil  to  human  uses.  Some  thirty 
years  before  the  scene  we  have  described, 
the  castle  of  Goito  stood  almost  alone  in 
such  a  recovered  spot,  surrounded  by  low 
mountains,  whose  main  defiles  were  hidden 
by  firs  and  birches  and  bound  about  with 
vineyards. 

A  castle  full  of  winding  corridors  and 
noble  rooms,  one  of  which,  maple-paneled, 
and  ornamented  with  Arabic  inscriptions 


50  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

in  burnished  gold,  was  hung  with  arras, 
on  which  were  pictured  the  proud  barons 
and  fair  dames  of  the  House  of  Romano, 
while  yet  beyond,  in  a  vaulted  chamber, 
stood  a  font  of  stone,  encircled  by  a  group 
of  marble  maidens,  by  whom,  for  many  a 
year,  Sordello  was  wont  to  sit  at  eventide, 
and  pray  that  they  might  win  pardon  for 
the  sins  for  which  he  fancied  them  to  be 
doing  penance  in  stone. 

Sordello  is  a  slender  boy,  in  page's  dress, 
who  watches  the  birds  in  the  autumn  days, 
and  spends  his  hours  in  winter  in  gazing  at 
the  forms  depicted  on  the  arras. 

He  is  a  princely  boy,  whom  nature  seems 
to  have  formed  for  pleasure,  —  one  of  the 
regal  class,  separated  from  the  mass  of  men 
who  are  doomed  to  toil,  and  placed  among 
that  smaller  company  whose  birthright  is  to 
enjoy.  As  some  lands,  like  his  own  Italy, 
are  framed  for  rich  fertility,  lands  where  all 
nature  rejoices  in  production. 

They  absorb  at  eye  and  ear  the  loveliness 
of  nature,  while  to  those  less  favored  she 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  57 

holds  her  beauty  but  half  revealed,  as  if  she 
could  not  trust  them  with  her  world. 

How  can  this  regal  class  love?  Like 
souls  brooding  upon  each  richly-laden  dis 
covery,  blind  at  first  to  anything  beyond  its 
beauty,  until  such  great  love  becomes  op 
pressive,  and  could  they  realize,  as  some 
times  befalls  such  natures,  how  little  they 
can  do  of  good,  how  little  they  can  bring  of 
blessing  to  the  object  which  they  worship, 
their  love  would  become  to  them  not  a  bless 
ing,  but  a  curse.  Hence  it  is  given  them  to 
be  capable  of  investing  lifeless  things  with 
life  from  their  own  souls,  while  one  by  one 
their  idols  are  discrowned  as  they  are  able 
to  behold  things  more  and  more  beautiful, 
until  they  gaze  upon  the  Highest.  One 
characteristic  is  always  theirs,  the  need  to 
blend  themselves  with  external  things,  and 
to  belong  to  what  they  worship,  until  that 
which  they  adore  holds  them  forever  in 
its  grasp,  past  hope  of  escape.  They  lay 
aside  their  individuality,  and  abdicate  their 
throne ;  the  creator  yields  to  the  creature ; 


52  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

they  give  life  to  others,  but  they  lose  their 
bwn. 

There  is  another  class  of  natures  that, 
looking  at  beauty  no  less  eagerly,  refer 
each  form  of  outward  loveliness  to  some 
related  loveliness  within  their  own  souls, 
believing  it  but  the  outward  manifestation 
of  an  inner  consciousness,  the  physical  reali 
zation  of  an  intellectual  dream. 

The  homage  that  others  direct  outward 
they  turn  inward,  and  wonder  that  external 
circumstances  can  depress  the  soul,  which 
can  laugh  at  fate,  and,  stamped  with  individ 
uality  and  unfettered  by  the  elemental  life 
of  earth,  can  soar  to  Heaven's  complexest 
essence,  equal  to  being  all. 

Can  this  indeed  be  true,  and  is  our  race 
really  vindicated  by  the  ascent  of  these  lofty 
souls  whom  we,  one  day,  may  follow  even 
with  our  more  bounded  wills  ? 

But  how  sad  it  is  to  find  that  minds  of 
the  first  order  may  be  enervated  by  certain 
moods  that  counsel  them  to  slumber  and  in 
action,  instead  of  bidding  them  stoop  to 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  53 

task  themselves  for  the  good  of  mankind 
when  life  and  time  are  in  accord  for  action, 
because,  forsooth,  the  occasion  is  not  suited 
to  display  all  their  powers.  "  Why  do  so 
small  a  deed  ?  Wait  till  the  grand  adven 
ture  offer  I  " 

And  there  is  something  yet  worse  that  may 
happen,  for  the  soul  may  be  filled  with  a 
desire  to  put  forth  all  its  powers  at  once,  to 
reach  beyond  mortal  limits,  and  to  force  into 
time  the  work  of  eternity ;  to  be  Caesar  or 
nothing ;  to  refuse  a  part  if  the  whole  be 
not  placed  within  its  grasp.1 

Such  is  Bordello ;  but  who  sees  the  plague- 
spot  on  him  as  he  loiters  here  ? 

Born  with  the  new  century,  in  the  midst 
of  the  glow  and  flowering  beauty  that  are 
spreading  from  the  barbarism  of  the  past, 
as  witnessed  to  by  a  stray  Greek,  now  and 
then  wandering  through  Florence,  the  pre- 

1  The  effort  to  realize  the  impossible,  the  search  for 
new  excitement,  became  incessant,  till  thought  and  ca 
price,  judgment  and  fantasy,  became  indistinguishable. — 
"King  Louis  of  Bavaria,"  London  Spectator. 


54  TJje  Story  of  the  Poem. 

cursor  of  a  glory  that  a  later  age  shall 
bring ;  fortunate  should  be  Bordello,  and 
who  sees  now  the  plague-spot  ?  And  yet  it 
is  there,  and  though  for  a  while  we  may 
cover  it  from  view,  it  shall  some  day  work 
woe  to  one  for  whom  there  is  yet  much  of 
pleasantness  in  his  daily  life. 

He  can  never  remember  when  he  has  not 
dwelt  at  Goito,  that  castle  set  in  the  marsh 
land,  which  belongs  to  Adelaide,  Ecelin's 
Tuscan  wife.  He  has  known  no  other 
world,  but  this  has  been  his  own,  to  wander 
through  and  loiter  in  at  will,  so  he  do  not 
enter  the  northern  rooms,  where  Adelaide's 
apartments  are.  Here  he  is  attended  by 
foreign  serving-women,  who  have  been  kind 
to  the  lonely  boy. 

And  for  a  time  the  day's  life  was  enough 
for  Bordello,  who  sucked  the  sweets  of 
earthly  pleasures  and  wreathed  each  new  dis 
covery  with  childish  fantasies,  seeking  to 
put  something  of  his  own  rich  life  into  life 
less  things,  that  they  might  become  in  some 
sense  his  fellows.  They  appear  with  aspects 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  55 

never  quite  the  same,  depicted  as  his  fancy 
wills,  which  sometimes  bestows  upon  famil 
iar  things  grotesque  shapes,  though  keeping 
a  grave  regard  through  all.  Each  was  re 
lated  to  each;  the  house-leek  on  the  roof 
had  some  bond  that  allied  it  with  the  proud 
chieftain,  who  came  one  day  with  his  archer- 
train  to  the  lodge,  and  strode  clanking  up 
the  stair  to  those  chambers  that  were  closed 
to  Bordello. 

Like  a  spider  he  spun  the  web  of  his  fan 
cies  over  all,  and  swung  gayly  upon  the 
threads  that  were  produced  from  his  own 
fertile  imagination.  And  if  he  were  selfish 
in  his  pleasures,  who  had  ever  taught  him 
that  others  might  gladly  share  his  joy  ?  And 
when  chance  destroyed  his  pretty  fancies,  as 
must  heeds  happen  since  the  world  is  always 
ready  to  sweep  away  such  webs ;  if  the 
March  winds  beat  down  a  heron's  nest,  or  a 
fawn  fell  from  a  crag  to  die,  could  such 
things  break  the  charm  that  held  the  boy 
enthralled  ? 

Time  brought  at  last  to  Sordello  what  the 


56  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

world  should  have  taught  him,  namely,  the 
true  relationship  between  himself  and  his 
companions,  whom,  although  the  glamour 
has  departed,  he  cannot  yet  wholly  renounce, 
since  they  have  once  afforded  him  delight. 
If,  however,  he  now  try  to  recall  the  poppy's 
gifts,  he  sees  that  it  is  but  a  poppy  after  all ; 
no  longer  some  enchanted  creature,  which 
felt  with  him,  as  he  with  it.  Why  should 
he  distrust  the  evidence  of  sense  ?  'Tis  but 
a  poppy.  Then  speaks  the  new-born  judg 
ment,  declaring  it  to  be  of  little  use  to  dis 
cern  the  attributes  of  others,  if  destitute  of 
attributes  one's  self.  Or  even  if  it  were  of 
use,  if  one  could  only  possess  some  special 
office  that  was  one's  very  own !  Or  if  not 
that,  at  least  his  soul  craved  some  justifica 
tion  for  the  wish  to  circumscribe  and  con 
centrate,  rather  than  increase,  the  sum  of 
actual  pleasure,  and  prove,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  mere  sympathy  suffices,  and  that  one 
can  enjoy  delights  by  proxy. 

Alas  for  Sordello,  if  he  reason  thus !    For 
from  the  beginning  love  is  whole  and  true, 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  .          57 

and  is  sure  of  its  own  truth,  if  of  nothing 
else ;  it  will  not  endure  to  have  its  face 
gazed  upon  by  a  crowd  that  cannot  know 
the  deep  pulses  of  its  heart.  Its  very  inabil 
ity  to  minister  worthily  to  what  it  worships 
only  increases  its  strength  of  feeling,  and 
exalts  the  idol  it  adores  far  above  itself,  and 
exalts  it  gladly.  But  souls  like  Sordello's,  if 
they  are  coerced  and  shamed,  yet  still  retain 
their  power  of  will,  care  but  little,  and  com 
fort  themselves  in  some  mysterious  fashion, 
although  they  are  constantly  peering  forth 
to  see  if  others  approve  of  their  claims,  and 
will  utter  for  them  the  thoughts  they  can 
not  themselves  express.  Such  minds  as 
this  must  always  be  in  the  presence  of  a 
crowd. 

"  Vanity,"  says  Naddo,  who  is  the  person 
ification  of  general  common-sense  and  aver 
age  public  opinion. 

But  how  shall  the  lonely  Sordello  find  a 
public  ?  Forth  comes,  not  only  every  painted 
warrior  from  the  arras,  every  stone  girl  from 
the  fountain,  not  only  Adelaide,  whom  once, 


$8          .  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

being  astray  in  the  castle,  he  had  surprised, 
as  she  sat  reading,  a  fair  maiden  at  her 
knee  ;  not  only  these,  but  the  whole  outside 
world  as  he  had  imaged  it  from  song  and 
story  and,  perhaps,  from  dreams  ;  its  char 
acteristics,  such  as  he  had  fancied  them  and 
transferred  them  to  tree  and  flower,  not 
thinking  any  of  them  sufficient  to  bestow 
upon  a  man,  —  these  now  stood  forth  inde 
pendent  and  alone.  Strength,  wisdom, 
grace  disengaged  themselves,  and  he  began 
dimly  to  conceive  of  a  sort  of  human  life, 
or  at  least  his  brain  teemed  with  life-like 
figures.  But  on  what  shall  his  attention  be 
fixed  ?  Are  these  figures  merely  to  testify 
to  the  movements  of  Sordello's  soul,  terrible 
or  sweet?  Each  one  lives  his  own  life, 
boasts  of  his  own  share  of  happiness,  and 
stands  alone  somewhere,  where  his  desires 
are  easiest  attained.  But  these  are  no 
longer  desires  which  are  easy  to  be  realized, 
as  were  those  of  his  forest-creatures ;  con 
trasts  and  combinations  are  presented  by  this 
company  so  suddenly  evoked,  —  combina- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  59 

tions  which  are  prized  by  them  who  are,  per 
haps,  to  become  judges  of  his  own  desires. 
Shall  he  suffer  this  crowd  of  his  own  crea 
tions  to  win  control,  to  arbitrarily  give  value 
to  what  he  has  lived  without,  and  never  felt 
the  lack  of  ?  What  matters  it  ?  A  deeper 
power  has  rendered  Bordello  discontented 
with  the  woodland  sights  which  lately  so  en 
wrapped  him,  and  he  is  absorbed  in  studying 
the  characters  and  purposes  of  the  human 
fancies  which  he  has  called  into  being,  and 
whose  artificial  joys  he  accepts,  not  as  he 
views  them,  but  that,  employing  each  shape 
to  estimate  the  value  of  the  others,  he  may 
be  enabled  to  enter  into  a  multitude  of 
authorized  pleasures,  as  once  he  blent  him 
self  with  tree  and  flower,  and  even  more 
completely,  surely,  than  with  them.  Each 
of  these  creatures,  who  is,  in  a  fashion, 
Bordello  himself,  is  capable  of  great  deeds  ; 
one  day  he  will  accomplish  such,  though 
now  he  must  dwell  with  dreams ;  yet  by  their 
aid  he  will  find  self-expression,  an  instru 
ment  serviceable  in  the  future.  Why  should 


60  The  Story  of  fbe  Poem. 

he  not  be  the  peer  of  Ecelin,  who,  he  hears, 
is  become  the  Emperor's  viceroy  ?  Surely 
he  can  wield  a  brand  as  well.  He  makes 
the  trial,  but  failing,  returns  to  those  easier 
dreams  of  future  triumphs,  which  fancy  can 
portray  at  will. 

Thus  he  lives,  no  longer  free  from  care, 
but  comforted  for  his  deprivations,  fitting 
himself  by  anticipation  to  play  his  part 
nobly  in  the  future,  when  great  barons  shall 
do  him  reverence,  and  great  cities  witness 
his  triumph. 

Who  grudges  time  spent  for  such  ends  ? 
Rather  labor  to  concentrate  qualities,  se 
lected  from  far  and  near,  and  testing  them, 
compress  the  finest  into  one  perfection,  and 
grasp  the  whole  at  once. 

And  thus  he  treated  his  phantasms  ;  set 
ting  aside  the  simpler,  and  combining  traits, 
he  formed  one  or  two  characters  that  took 
up  into  themselves  the  virtues  of  humanity, 
and  these  in  turn  were  reduced  to  one  all- 
powerful  and  all -noble.  Whose  is  this 
transcendent  figure  ?  Can  it  be  Frederick, 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  61 

of  whom  the  bowmen  talked  ?  Is  the  juice 
which  he  knows  is  bubbling  in  the  stalk  of 
yonder  grape-vine  some  Saracenic  wine 
which  the  Caesar  is  drinking  with  the  Mira- 
moline  ? 1  Are  those  hazel  nuts,  perchance, 
the  dates  upon  the  bough  that  John  of 
Brienne  sent  to  hasten  the  sailing  of  the 
crusading  squadron,  as  of  old  Cato  held  up 
the  ripe  figs  in  the  Roman  Senate  House  to 
show  how  near  Kome's  rival,  Carthage,  lay  ? 
Is  it  in  truth  the  Caesar  ?  But  how  difficult 
for  harsh  sights  and  sounds  to  come  from 
the  sad  world  to  one  who  must  dwell  in  per 
fect  serenity,  since  his  least  look  or  word  is 
mighty  to  control,  and  his  right  hand  wields 
the  thunderbolt !  But  thunder  would  be 
needless  if  the  multitude  would  but  listen  to 
the  song  of  the  minstrel ;  why  should  not 
this  all-perfect  being  be  the  Poet  ?  And  so, 
half  emperor,  half  minstrel,  he  lived  his  life ; 
only  vile  things  troubled  him,  and  these  in 

1  A  Moslem  prince,  whose  territory  was  situated  in 
Northern  Africa.  Miramoline  is  another  form  of  the 
name,  which  is  a  Spanish  corruption  of  a  Moorish  title. 


62  Tbe  Story  of  the  Poem. 

thought  he  slew ;  while  other  fancies  he  con 
trolled,  and  others  yet  he  placed  in  seats  of 
honor,  enthroned  a  little  lower  than  him 
self. 

Like  many  before  and  after  him,  Sor- 
dello  had  found  Apollo  !  He  would  be  a 
poet,  although  as  yet  he  was  forced  to  steal 
from  others,  and  to  appear  in  a  poetic  array 
that  was  but  a  sad  patchwork.  In  the  rare 
June  days  he  climbed  the  ravines,  where  the 
sparkling  runnels  slipped  over  clattering 
pebbles,  through  the  green  walls  of  lindens 
roofed  with  vines,  whence  emerging,  he  be 
held  long  lines  of  trees  which  closed  into  a 
magic  forest,  still,  as  of  old,  full  of  sweet 
surprises. 

Gradually  he  sees  the  Pythons  perish  b& 
fore  him  ;  obstacles  are  overcome ;  but  the 
maids,  his  Delian  priestesses,  linger  still ; 
more  or  less  loving  or  disdainful,  they  join 
in  adoring  Apollo.  But  where  is  the 
Daphne,  the  beloved  of  the  God  ? 

He  hears  the  serving-women  gossip  of  the 
probable  marriage  of  Ecelin's  daughter, 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  6} 

Palma,  with  Richard  of  St.  Boniface,  the 
Guelfic  prince,  that  thus  political  feuds  may 
be  appeased.  "  But,"  they  add,  "  Palma 
will  have  none  of  him !  " 

And  so  the  lady  who  scorns  other  mates 
seems  most  worthy  of  Sordello,  and  becomes 
the  Daphne  of  his  dreams. 

Time  wears  on,  though  Fate  delays  to 
provide  the  stage  and  the  audience  Sordello 
desires.  He  grows  pale  and  restless  in  his 
enforced  quiet,  weary  of  inaction.  Time 
flies,  but  he  remains  the  same.  None  come 
to  him.  Adelaide  is  in  Mantua,  whence 
Taurello  has  departed.  Oh,  let  but  Freder 
ick  come,  and  let  matter  be  found  for  that 
minstrelsy  which  has  been  lured  from  Sicily 
and  the  young  Emperor's  court,  and  which, 
like  the  double  outflow  of  a  drinking-cup, 
sparkles  over  the  thirsty  land,  to  Provence 
on  the  north  and  thus  far  to  the  south ! 

Ah,  what  a  way  this  is  to  tell  men  of 
what  is  going  on  about  them,  recording  it  in 
the  very  tongue  which  they  speak  daily,  as 
the  Troubadours  do,  while  in  their  turn  the 


64  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

Trouveres  proclaim  the  wonder,  and  explain 
it  to  their  hearers,  until  the  House  of  Ro 
mano  is  famed  throughout  the  world !  Such 
was  Taurello's  purpose  when  he  introduced 
the  poetic  games,  the  Courts  of  Love  and 
Song,  into  Lombardy  ;  and  Adelaide,  in  her 
turn,  now  summons  one  at  Mantua,  when  a 
sudden  accident,  like  a  flash  of  light,  opens 
Sordello's  eyes  to  the  true  work  of  life. 


BOOK  II. 


IT  is  a  pleasant  spring  morning, 
and  Sordello  is  sure  that  the  day 
will  bring  him  to  the  lady  of  his 
dreams.  She  is  there  in  the  whispering  pine 
woods,  and  he  has  but  to  seek  her.  Gayly 
he  sets  forth;  the  great  morass  sparkles 
wide  around  him  in  the  sunshine,  and 
Palma's  form  floats  vaguely  before  his  eyes ; 
the  marshy  ground  yields  beneath  his  tread, 
lakes  spreading  as  he  moves ;  Palma  enters 
the  wood ;  she  will  emerge  on  the  other  side, 
and  crowds,  and  St.  Boniface  also,  will  see 
that  she  loves  him.  One  more  screen  of 
pines  is  passed,  and  lo !  Mantua  lies  before 
him,  and  upon  the  green  plain  without  the 
walls  cluster  real  men  and  women  about  a 
gorgeous  pavilion.  But  do  they  all  rush  to 
adore  Sordello?  Not  so;  and  yet  his  fan 
cies  were  not  wholly  vain,  for  there  sits 


66  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

Palma,  seen  in  the  pavilion  as  the  curtains 
fall  aside.  Now  he  believes  that  his  hour 
had  come  ;  —  yet  not  so ;  —  for  Eglamor, 
the  best  minstrel  of  St.  Boniface,  steps  for 
ward  to  conclude  with  his  song  the  Court  of 
Love.  He  sings  the  praise  of  Elys,  the 
lady  of  his  love,  in  whose  honor  they  name 
the  new  string  just  fastened  to  his  lute,  and 
all  the  hearers  burst  forth  into  applause. 
But  spite  of  the  beauty  of  the  song,  Sordello 
believes  himself  capable  of  surpassing  it,  of 
giving  it  a  more  fitting  ending ;  and  scarcely 
have  the  shouts  died  away  when  he  seizes  a 
lute,  and  filling  up  the  outline  Eglamor  had 
drawn,  makes  it  living  with  the  glow  of  his 
own  ardent  imagination.  On  flies  the  song, 
barely  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  rushing 
action,  until  Naddo  is  aghast.  He  is  like 
some  Egyptian,  who,  goading  a  bull  with 
his  sharp  prong,  suddenly  sees  him  turn  his 
head,  and  beholds  beneath  his  tongue  the 
scarabaeus,  the  mystic  sign  that  marks  the 
sacred  apis.  The  people  shout  for  joy; 
Sordello  shrinks,  but  is  sustained  by  the 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  6j 

sight  of  Adelaide,  at  her  side  the  maid  of 
the  north  chamber,  the  Palma  and  Daphne 
of  his  dreams.  How  fair  she  is  with  her 
blue  eyes  and  locks  of  gold !  and  as  she 
unwinds  a  scarf  from  her  neck,  and  lays 
it  upon  his  shoulders,  Bordello's  senses  fail, 
and  he  knows  no  more,  until  he  awakens  in 
his  old  home,  his  forehead  crowned,  and 
Palma's  gift  about  him,  while  on  the  floor 
beside  him  lies  a  splendid  vesture,  the  prize 
of  victory.  The  kindly  serving  -  women 
gather  around  him,  and  praise  him  for  a 
youth  so  spent  as  to  fit  him  for  such  deeds, 
and  they  tell  him  how  Eglamor,  over 
whelmed  by  defeat,  has  died,  and  that  he 
has  been  chosen  to  be  Palma's  minstrel,  and 
has  been  brought  home  by  the  Jongleurs  in 
a  body. 

Bordello,  who  hitherto  had  only  perceived, 
now  rose  up  to  think  ;  he  passed  a  week  in 
living  over  again  in  memory  all  the  delight 
ful  event.  What  wonderful  thing  had  he 
then  done  ?  Blind  was  the  other  not  to  see, 
as  quickly  as  he  had  done,  the  relative  im- 


68  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

portance  of  each  part.  But  would  he,  Sor- 
dello,  have  ever  turned  from  Elys,  to  sing 
of  her  for  the  pleasure  of  song  itself  ? 
True,  the  bits  of  verse  did  help  him  to  find  a 
new  beauty  in  himself,  leading  his  thought 
up  to  many  a  hoard  of  fancies.  Why 
should  such  a  performance  win  applause 
from  men  if  they,  too,  had  fancies  ?  Was  it 
possible  that  they  found  a  beauty  in  the 
song  itself?  "If,"  he  thinks,  "they  can 
find  in  the  poem  any  such  beauty  as  I  can, 
who  in  my  fancy  have  lived  what  then  I 
sang,  who,  in  my  dreams,  have  enjoyed 
what  now  I  praise ;  if  they  can  do  that,  they 
must  hold  me,  who  could  make  them  do  it, 
for  a  very  god  indeed  !  Or  it  may  be  that 
some  one  like  Eglamor,  who,  if  beneath  me, 
is  above  them,  may  have  set  a  stamp  upon 
our  work,  so  that  men  believe  and  worship 
what  they  neither  truly  know  nor  delight  in. 
They  may,  too,  have  fancies  of  their  own, 
which  will  not  come  at  their  beck,  but  are 
undefined  until  song  links  them  together, 
and  renders  them  distinct  and  palpable." 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  69 

Suddenly  the  wind  is  hushed,  the  noon 
day  sky  is  clouded,  and  Bordello  hears  the 
tramp  of  footsteps  through  the  pine  wood, 
as  the  minstrel  company  bear  the  body  of 
Eglamor  to  his  last  resting-place,  calm  in 
death,  a  few  flowers  in  his  hand.  He  was 
Bordello's  opposite ;  for  him  verse  was  a 
temple-worship,  a  ceremony  that  unveiled 
the  sanctuary,  nor  did  he  ever  repine  at  the 
effort  needed  to  stand  therein,  or  at  finding 
much  that  was  blank  and  uncertain  at  the 
shrine  before  which  he  was  wont  to  kneel, 
until  the  power  responded,  vouchsafing  him 
some  sight  or  sound  which  he  made  his  own, 
and  fixed,  beautiful  forever,  in  poetic  form. 
And  these  were  a  part  of  his  life,  unloosed 
at  pleasure,  to  soothe  pain  or  care,  while  he 
faltered  like  Perseus  when  he  set  free  An 
dromeda,  so  far  these  fancies  seemed  beyond 
himself.  Yet  he  was  no  rare  genius,  trans 
figuring  in  every  element  at  will,  but  rather 
some  patient  gnome,  who,  shut  up  in  some 
cavern  with  his  agate  cup,  his  seed-pearl  and 
his  topaz  rod,  finds  enough  to  do  in  making 
the  best  disposal  that  he  can  of  them. 


70  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

And  he  had  loved  his  art,  and  possessing 
little  of  the  world's  wealth,  had  cared  not 
for  the  world's  coldness,  since  he  had  that 
sweet  gift  that  makes  all  others  poor,  —  the 
gift  of  song.  None  yet  had  equaled  him, 
and  the  coming  triumph  had  seemed  to  him 
so  certain,  his  lay  so  fervid,  unsurpassed  as 
yet. 

We  know  the  sequel,  how  he  lost  the  vic 
tory,  and  rank  and  life.  Yet  envy  had 
sunken  within  him  when  he  had  listened  to 
Bordello,  and  he  tried  to  shout  like  the 
others,  though  not  like  the  common  sort,  to 
show  his  pleasure,  and,  bending  down,  he 
placed  his  own  crown  beneath  Bordello's, 
and  kissed  his  successor's  hand,  leaving  a 
tear  upon  it.  And  then  he  joined  his  band, 
who  bade  him  sing  his  rival's  song ;  he 
obeyed  them,  and  went  home.  There  was 
no  crowd,  as  of  yore,  to  welcome  him  at  his 
coming;  all  were  gone  to  escort  the  new 
minstrel,  his  rival.  And  so  he  lay  down  to 
sleep,  well  knowing  that  in  the  morning  he 
must  rise  to  confront  the  problem  of  his 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  77 

changed  estate ;  and  death,  less  cruel  than 
his  friends,  took  him  before  the  dawning. 

Then  the  minstrels,  who  had  heard  of 
Bordello's  romantic  home,  and  believed, 
with  Naddo,  that  one  would  willingly  rest 
far  from  the  scene  of  one's  defeat,  had  borne 
the  dead  poet  to  Goito,  and  Bordello,  rising 
a  degree  higher  yet  in  soul,  laid  his  own 
crown  upon  the  breast  of  the  dead,  and 
committed  the  charge  of  the  minstrel's  dust 
and  of  his  fame  to  the  ferns  and  pines. 
Nor  was  his  prayer  fruitless ;  for  a  trefoil 
floweret,  that  whitens  ere  noontide  and  is 
swept  away  by  the  breeze  of  evening,  bears 
still  the  name  of  Eglamor. 

It  was  a  month  of  May,  and  Sordello, 
robed  and  filleted,  lay  with  his  lute  upon 
the  flowery  turf;  spite  of  the  glow  of  his 
poet-life,  something  within  him  seemed  to 
whisper  that  this  fortune  could  not  endure. 
He  had  sought  to  learn  something  of  his 
birth  and  station,  and  he  had  been  told  this. 
Years  before,  Ecelin,  engaged  in  a  feud  at 
Vicenza,  had  fired  the  quarter  of  the  town  in 


72  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

which  his  enemies  dwelt,  although  that  very 
night  his  son  Ecelin  had  been  born  there. 
The  latter,  with  his  mother,  was  with  diffi 
culty  rescued  by  Elcorte,  an  archer.  The 
wrath  of  those  who  missed  the  greater  prey 
vented  itself  yet  more  fiercely  upon  that 
within  their  grasp,  and  it  was  said  that 
among  those  who  perished  were  the  wife  and 
only  son  of  Taurello  Salinguerra.  Then 
the  archer's  deed  seemed  daring  enough  to 
merit  large  reward,  and  since  he  himself 
had  fallen,  his  son  had  been  carefully  nur 
tured  at  Goito,  to  which  place  Adelaide  had 
escaped.  And  this  archer's  son  was  Sor- 
dello  !  Apollo  vanishes,  and  there  remains 
a  low-born  youth,  who  has  just  been  named 
his  lady's  minstrel.  Is  this  he  who,  as  our 
poet  wildly  fancies,  is  to  be  proclaimed  the 
monarch  of  the  world? 

For  Sordello,  who  had  been  a  slave  to 
longings,  suppressed  save  in  his  dreams,  not 
daring  to  claim  his  desired  mastery  until  he 
had  decked  himself  with  strength,  grace, 
and  wisdom  to  fit  him  for  his  throne,  has 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  75 

now  resolved  to  claim  his  kingdom.  He 
has  determined,  relying  upon  his  will1 
alone,  to  do  his  best  with  what  he  has,  and 
let  the  rest  go  by.  The  die  is  cast ;  never 
again  can  Bordello  be  to  himself  one  of  the 
many,  nor  feel  that  for  him  and  for  the 
many  there  is  a  common  law,  since  Apollo's 
presence  has  exempted  him  from  that.  Men 
now  are  no  more  his  equals  than  were  bud 
and  flower  in  the  olden  time ;  although  in 
active  himself,  he  is  greater  than  those  who 
act,  since  each  stoops  to  his  star,  to  acquire 
from  it  his  function ;  he  has  gained  the 
same  result  with  meaner  mortals,  who  are 
trained  to  express  their  one  ruling  thought, 
since  he  is  capable  of  comprehending  all 
ideas,  and  can  take  power  from  Eichard,  or 
grace  from  Palma,  and  mix  these  qualities, 
or  enjoy  them  separately,  as  best  pleases 
him ;  so  he  is  never  cramped  or  restricted  by 

1  In  this,  as  in  other  places  in  the  poem,  Mr.  Brown 
ing  seems  to  use  the  word  will,  as  equivalent  to  imagi 
nation,  and  the  capacity  to  realize  in  himself  all  his 
images. 


74  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

any  specialty ;  never  stamped  strong,  and 
so  compelled  to  turn  all  his  energies  to 
strength,  or  wise,  and  forced  to  give  evi-. 
dence  of  wisdom.  Which  means  that  there 
is  no  one  Idea,  which  floats  star-like  above 
and  before  him,  luring  him  on  to  its  reali 
zation.  "  Fortunate,"  he  cries,  "  that  my 
flesh  never  strove  to  emulate  so  various  a 
soul!  Took  no  casual  mould  of  the  first 
fancy,  and  lay,  clogged  by  it,  averse  to 
change ;  but  has  left  her  free  to  range,  and, 
cast  into  the  shade,  hinders  but  little,  if  it 
cannot  help  !  Let  my  soul  range  freely,  ex 
pressing  the  quintessence  of  all  beauty  by 
being  conscious  of  it  itself ;  but  surely  the 
World,  which  can  wonder  at  men  who  may 
themselves  be  filled  with  wonder,  the  World 
which  loves  at  second-hand,  and  makes  idols 
of  those  who  bow  in  their  turn  before  some 
idol,  surely  this  World,  when  it  shall  behold 
me,  must  bow  in  unexampled  worship  !  " 

(Dear  Monarch,  notice  how  wide  the 
breach  here.  Look  down  upon  all  men  if 
you  will,  but  why  tell  them  your  opinion  of 
them?) 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  75 

"  Ah,"  thinks  Sordello,  "  the  world  shall 
bow  to  me,  who  from  afar  see  all  the  joys  of 
man,  or  great  or  small,  nor  taste  of  them 
myself.  I  have  no  machine  for  exercising 
my  will ;  mere  consciousness  be  mine.  Let 
them  perceive  what  I  could  do,  and  believe 
in  a  mastery  proven  by  my  song,  which  shall 
show  that  all  they  are  or  would  be,  I  am.  I 
take  no  pains  to  change  anything,  vex  them 
with  no  new  forms,  but  give  them  just  what 
they  desire,  that  and  no  more ;  so  that  in 
me  each  shall  behold  and  love  that  love 
which  leads  his  own  soul  to  perfection." 

Thus  Sordello  chose,  for  his  life's  portion, 
song,  not  deeds.  He  put  aside  the  emperor 
and  remained  the  poet  alone.  Verse  only 
for  him!  Strength  should  not  seek  to  ex 
press  itself  in  effort,  nor  grace  in  outward 
beauty,  nor  uttered  wisdom  control  unseemly 
moods.  It  should  be  song  alone.  The 
blood  and  fire  of  the  year,  which  so  concern 
the  world,  are  to  him  but  a  pastime,  to  wile 
away  the  hours  until  he  shall  step  forth 
upon  the  stage. 


76  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

And  now  that  all  is  outlined,  Sordello 
takes  his  ease,  until  there  comes  a  letter 
from  Naddo,  who  entreats  him  to  return  to 
Mantua  to  feed  a  famishing  world.  His 
fame  has  gone  before  him,  and  all  bid  him 
welcome,  while  all  seem  to  Sordello  angels, 
who  are  to  be  made  supremely  happy  by  his 
song. 

Then  he  finds  the  task  of  singing  an  an 
noyance,  since  he  had  never  cared  for  song 
itself,  but  only  for  its  effect ;  of  what  use 
had  song  been  in  his  past  life,  when  all  he 
had  wished  for  had  been  praise,  not  the  la 
bor  that  earned  the  praise?  His  rhymes 
were  Eglamor's;  but  Naddo  upholds  him 
before  the  people,  and  he  determines  to  go 
on,  remembering  that  if  failure  come  he  can 
betake  himself  once  more  to  Goito. 

We  struggle  with  our  glossaries  to  gain 
an  idea  of  what  the  Troubadour  would  ex 
press  in  his  varied  poems,  but  we  never  quite 
comprehend  what  there  was  in  them  that  so 
moved  the  people,  as  he  drew  out  from  the 
flood  of  the  time  its  elements,  and  tracing 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  77 

actions  backward  to  their  source,  added  a 
touch  or  two,  and  made  qualities  men  and 
women.  Virtue  and  vice  passed  by  in  the 
persons  of  saint  and  sinner,  and  all  the  pas 
sions  were  incarnated  by  song.  Praise  was 
showered  upon  him,  his  fictions  were  held 
for  realities,  and  he  felt  a  desire  to  realize 
something  of  what  he  sang ;  to  come  down 
from  his  pedestal  and  accept  the  petty  joys 
of  actual  life.  By  doing  this,  however,  he 
would  abjure  the  right  to  enjoy  the  quint 
essence  of  all,  and  thus  would  frustrate  his 
main  design ;  even  for  very  love  of  it  he 
must  abjure  all  pleasure.  He  laughed ; 
what  sage  but  perishes  if  he  look  up  from 
the  pages  of  his  magic  book,  because  at  the 
very  first  line  he  finds  that  his  art  has  effi 
ciency  ? 

For  a  while  our  poet  left  his  imaginings 
to  try  the  stuff  that  held  his  images,  his 
Language.  No  need  to  tell  how  he  wrought 
upon  that  language,  until  from  the  rough 
speech  of  the  men  about  him  he  had  ham 
mered  out  at  last  a  rude  armor,  that  should 


78  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

one  day  be  more  prized  than  the  Koman 
panoply  that  had  been  melted  to  make  it. 
And  when  it  was  complete  he  strove  to  use 
it.  Took  up  an  action  with  its  actors,  lived 
in  each  of  his  creatures,  whom  he  equipped 
in  the  harness  he  had  so  toilsomely  wrought. 
And  then  he  bade  the  Mantuans  listen. 
Vain  attempt !  The  armor  broke  away 
piece  by  piece,  because  perceptions,  such  as 
he  sought  to  clothe  with  it,  are  unfit  for  a 
garb  so  intellectual  as  language.  Thought 
may  replace  perception,  but  can  hardly  co 
exist  with  it,  since  it  is  but  the  latter's  pre 
sentment  ;  offering  us  the  whole  in  a  series 
of  parts,  giving  us  by  the  successive  and  the 
many  that  which  is  really  one  and  simulta 
neous.  Does  the  crowd  lack  perception? 
It  painfully  tacks  together  the  thoughts  into 
which  Sordello  has  torn  perception,  its  office 
being  to  reconstruct,  as  his  is  to  diffuse. 

Hopeless  of  success,  he  returns  to  the  old 
measures  and  sings  the  exploits  of  Montfort 
over  the  Albigensians.  Even  now  he  is 
not  understood.  His  audience  never  guess 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  79 

that  he  depicts  himself  in  his  hero,  and  won 
der  how  he  comes  to  know  so  much  about 
Montfort.  What,  after  all,  does  he  care  for 
the  Mantuans  ?  But  was  he  not  in  a  way 
forced  to  help  them,  to  treat  them  as  if  they 
were  peers  of  the  images  of  the  old  Goito 
days  ?  He  strewed  fairy  gold  upon  the  mul 
titude,  but  all  in  vain.  The  years  went  by, 
and  Sordello  disappeared  from  among  men. 
The  man  and  the  poet  were  hopelessly 
at  war  within  him  ;  the  man  refusing  to  be 
any  longer  fooled  with  fancies,  while  the 
poet  would  consecrate  all  his  powers  to 
song ;  and  now  one  nature,  now  the  other 
had  its  way.  But  the  complete  Sordello, 
man  and  poet,  had  gone  forever.  Now  he  re 
solved  to  put  aside  all  but  his  art  and  com 
pel  the  age  to  recognize  a  master ;  now  to 
forswear  song,  fling  by  his  lethargy,  and 
play  a  man's  part  in  life.  Ere  he  could 
decide  the  Mantuans  interfered.  Why  not 
settle  down  there  among  them  ?  Remember 
that  he  was  Palma's  minstrel,  and  be  glad 
to  submit  to  established  rules,  nor  fall  into 


8o  TJ)e  Story  of  the  Poem. 

extravagant  absurdities  like  Vidal l  and 
others.  But  when  he  sought  to  answer  their 
questions,  his  speech  had  the  largeness  of 
divine  replies,  too  slow  in  condensing  them 
selves  to  satisfy  the  citizens,  with  their  little 
stock  of  opinions  cut  and  dried,  or  questions 
youthfully  crude.  To  answer  questions 
asked  would  have  been  the  work  of  a  life 
time;  he  resorted  to  ready-made  responses 
and  often-repeated  gestures.  So  his  soul, 
unable  to  compass  the  whole,  began  to  see 
less  and  less  that  was  worth  striving  for  in 
the  parts.  As  man  and  poet  alike  he  failed, 
and  Naddo  reproves  him  for  not  being  able 
to  sing  a  straightforward  song,  and  persist 
ing  in  trying  to  work  out  problems  which, 
being  no  philosopher,  he  had  better  leave 
untouched.  "  For  poetry,"  says  Naddo, 

1  Pierre  Vidal,  a  Troubadour,  who  followed  Richard 
the  Lion-Heart  on  the  third  crusade.  He  was  even 
more  renowned  for  his  extravagant  behavior  than  for  hia 
poetic  gifts,  and  was  involved  in  many  remarkable  ad 
ventures.  Dante  introduces  him  into  the  26th  Canto  of 
the  Purgatorio,  putting  into  hia  mouth  some  verses  of 
Proven§al  poetry. 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  81 

"  must  be  based  on  common  sense.  If  you 
would  have  your  songs  endure,  build  upon 
the  human  heart,  the  general,  healthy  one." 
Many  Naddos  overwhelm  him;  he  yields, 
strives  to  conform,  and  fails  once  more. 

Meanwhile  Adelaide  has  died,  and  Ecelin 
writes  to  Taurello  that  he  shall  never  return 
to  the  world  ;  that  his  two  sons,  Ecelin  and 
Alberic,  are  to  marry  the  niece  of  Azzo  and 
the  daughter  of  St.  Boniface;  that  the 
Count  himself  is  to  have  Palma,  and  thus 
peace  will  be  made  between  the  two  con 
tending  factions.  The  news  comes  to  Salin- 
guerra  at  Naples,  where  he  has  lately  joined 
Frederick,  who  is  to  sail  within  the  month 
for  Syria.  Swiftly  he  rides  to  visit  his  lord, 
and  remonstrate  with  him  on  his  course ; 
but  to  no  purpose  ;  these  things,  says  Ecelin, 
must  be  as  he  has  planned. 

The  country  rings  with  the  news  of  how 
Romano's  great  captain  has  withdrawn  to 
Mantua,  whither,  although  it  is  his  native 
city,  he  never  goes,  unless  dissatisfied  with 
Ecelin.  The  city  prepares  great  shows  to 


82  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

greet  him,  and  Bordello  is  chosen  to  bid  him 
welcome ;  but  no  thoughts  will  come  to 
him;  he  strolls  out  beyond  the  walls,  and 
wanders  aimlessly  through  the  fields,  until 
he  finds  himself  unexpectedly  at  Goito,  his 
old  home,  looking  smaller  than  of  yore,  but 
more  mysterious  than  ever.  Palma,  they 
tell  him,  has  left  that  very  day. 

Once  more  Sordello  lay  beside  the  foun 
tain,  and  his  life  passed  in  review  before 
him.  Body  and  Intellect  both  had  failed ; 
was  it  the  fault  of  the  Will  ?  And  he  flung 
his  crown  into  the  fount,  and  laid  aside  the 
scarf  that  all  so  envied  him.  There  was  no 
poet  the  next  day  at  Mantua,  and  Taurello, 
when  the  Masque  was  over,  asked  vainly  for 
a  song.  None  was  forthcoming,  and  the 
good-natured  soldier  accepted  a  bull-baiting 
instead. 


BOOK  III. 

JNCE  more  Goito  has  Sordello. 
The  dream  is  over,  and  nature 
effaces  the  print  of  the  past ;  the 
world's  stain  leaves  our  poet,  and  the  Man- 
tuans  fade  from  his  memory.  Better  is  it, 
he  feels,  to  be  unrevealed  than  half  revealed. 
Of  what  further  use,  then,  is  will?  Why 
should  he  feel  the  need  to  become  all  na 
tures,  yet  retain  the  law  of  his  own  ?  Will 
and  the  means  of  displaying  it,  he  deter 
mines  to  abjure,  save  any  that  are  so  dis 
tinct  that  they  may  serve  to  amuse  without 
tempting  one  to  become  anything.  As  he 
was  at  first,  such  will  he  now  become. 

A  year  passed  with  no  great  change  in 
Sordello,  save  that  the  eyes  once  bright  with 
questioning  were  now  dulled  by  receiving. 
He  slept,  but  he  knew  that  he  slept. 

One  dull,  gray  autumn  day  he  sauntered 


84  TJ}e  Story  of  tbe  Poem. 

through  the  wood,  his  whole  soul  in  har 
mony  with  the  aspect  of  nature.  His  youth 
and  nature's  both  were  gone.  And  once 
gone,  youth  is  gone  forever ;  deeds  passed 
by  can  never  be  achieved  ;  nature  may  re 
new  herself,  but  we  — 

"  Alas !  "  sighs  Bordello,  "  are  all  my 
chances  forfeited?  Have  I  not  two  lives 
that  I  may  spend  the  one  in  learning  how  to 
live  the  other?  Nature  may  retrieve  her 
losses ;  my  overthrow  is  final !  No  thoughts 
of  love,  meeting  with  Elys  at  the  even-close  ; 
no  hours  of  pleasure  spent  with  Frederick 
and  his  court  in  gay  carouse  ;  no  triumphant 
going  like  the  blind  Doge,  Dandolo,  through 
conquered  Byzantium  ! l  No  more  of  peace 
or  war  !  Ah,  these  were  the  fragments  of  a 
whole,  the  rounds  of  a  ladder,  which  I  mis 
took  for  the  broad  platform  it  was  meant  to 

1  In  1204  the  Latin  Conquest  of  Constantinople  took 
place.  The  leaders  of  the  so-called  crusade  were  the 
Doge  of  Venice,  Dandolo,  and  Baldwin  of  Flanders,  with 
others  of  less  note.  The  first  step  was  to  conquer  the 
city  in  behalf  of  an  exiled  prince,  the  next  to  seize  upon 
it  entirely  and  place  Baldwin  on  the  throne, 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  85 

lift  me  to.  Happiness  did  await  me ;  life 
should  be  used  to  acquire  ;  and  such  deeds 
conduced  to  teach  me  by  a  self-revelation, 
which  was  mistaken  for  the  use  itself. 
What  helped  to  that  was  pleasure,  what  de 
layed  was  pain.  I  have  laid  down  the  lad 
der  ;  I  climb  no  more ;  but  the  platform 
stretches  above  me,  and  joys  elude  me  of 
which  till  now  I  never  had  a  glimpse.  The 
multitude  are  endowed  with  some  being, 
however  slight,  distinct  from  what  they  see, 
however  limited  ;  happiness  must  consist  in 
feeding  being  by  gleanings  from  things 
seen,  in  attaining  the  qualities  of  the  latter, 
and  thus  becoming  what  one  beholds.  Such 
transmutation,  the  making  what  has  been 
alien  native  to  one's  self,  is  the  Use-of-Life. 
Ere  I  begin  to  truly  exist  I  must  include 
within  myself  a  world  I  now  know  in  spirit 
only,  and  then  what  would  be  left  to  me  to 
blend  with  ?  But  already  my  will  is  master 
of  the  world ;  yet  it  becomes  thereby  more 
alien  to  me,  since  my  means  are  so  unwor 
thily  suited  to  my  will ;  I  was  bound  to 


86  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

tread  down  forever  these  tantalizing  joys. 
I  die ;  but  will  the  rest  die  also  ?  Shall 
some  future  Bordello  catch  the  clue  I  miss, 
which  still  seems  at  my  hand,  and  still 
eludes  my  grasp  ?  Have  I  wantonly  aban 
doned  the  chance  of  solving  the  problem, 
and  shall  I,  thrust  aside,  remain  so,  while 
beyond  there  passes  a  pageant  that  Time 
will  never  repeat  ?  Nay,  rather,  slake  my 
thirst  at  any  spring  !  " 

And  with  the  thought  conies  Naddo  to 
summon  the  poet  to  Verona.  He  tells  him 
that  Ecelin  has  parted  his  wealth  between 
his  two  sons,  Ecelin  and  Alberic,  who  are  to 
wed  Guelfic  ladies,  and  abides  still  in  his 
monastery;  that  Palma  and  St.  Boniface 
are  betrothed ;  how  the  Guelfs  rose  at  Fer- 
rara,  and  Salinguerra,  having  taken  revenge, 
is  now  besieged  there  by  Este  and  St.  Boni 
face  ;  and  how  the  latter,  once  victory  is 
gained,  will  marry  Palma,  absorb  Romano, 
and  inaugurate  better  government.  Sor- 
dello  is  wanted  by  Palma,  who  doubtless 
wishes  him  to  prepare  a  song  for  her  wed- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  8j 

ding-feast.  And  now  we  have  arrived  at 
the  point  where  our  story  opens.  The  news 
of  the  Guelfic  discomfiture  has  reached  Ve 
rona,  and  while  the  square  is  alive  with  ex 
cited  burghers,  Palina  and  her  minstrel  are 
sitting,  as  lovers,  in  the  secret  chamber. 
Palma  strives  to  tell  him  her  story.  Sor- 
dello's  had  not  been  the  only  want  that 
Goito  had  nurtured;  Palma,  destined  to 
serve,  as  he  to  be  served,  had  grown  up  there 
also.  While  Sordello  had  sought  to  lead 
nature  captive,  she  had  dreamed  of  some  out- 
soul,  for  whose  coming  she  pined,  nor  did 
she  dare  let  heart  and  mind  expand,  until 
this  mysterious  power,  for  whom  they  grew, 
should  appear  to  direct  them.  Everything 
in  her  life  she  felt  must  be  determined  by 
one  who  is  to  be  to  her  the  incarnation  of 
a  will,  inscrutable  save  at  one  point,  which 
would  shine  that  her  own  powers  might  flow 
towards  it.  First  whom  to  love,  then  how 
to  love  him.  And  hoping  thus,  from  day  to 
day  she  waited  for  his  coming. 

Then    came    the    Love -Court,  and    one 


88  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

face  burst  upon  her,  uot  seen  for  the  first 
time.  She  dared  not  speak  of  her  feelings, 
for,  although  Adelaide  was  silent,  Palma 
felt  certain  that  any  schemes  she  might  form 
would  be  frustrated  by  the  wily  Tuscan. 

Then  one  night  the  Lady  died,  and  none 
but  Palma  there,  to  whom  the  dying  woman 
revealed  many  secrets  of  her  life.  Ecelin, 
arriving  just  as  all  was  over,  refused  to 
carry  out  any  of  the  wishes  of  his  dead  wife, 
since  he  cared  no  longer  for  family  glory, 
and  was  only  eager  to  return  to  his  monas 
tery.  But  Palma,  alone  at  Goito,  sought 
how  to  bring  herself  and  Bordello  together, 
and  rejoiced  to  have  Taurello  teach  her  of 
the  greatness  of  her  house,  and  show  her 
how  Romano  has  become  fixed  in  Italy. 
Other  families  have  depended  upon  the 
Pope,  Romano  has  relied  upon  the  Emperor. 

And  as  Adelaide  1  of  Susa  intrusted  Pied- 

1  Adelaide  of  Susa,  a  great  baroness  of  Lombardy, 
was  a  firm  partisan  of  the  Popes.  Her  daughter  Bertha 
•was  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  opponent  of 
Hildebrand. 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  89 

mont,  which  left  to  the  Popes  an  open  pas 
sage  between  France  and  Italy,  to  the  great 
Countess  Matilda1  of  Tuscany,  so  should 
Palma  take  into  her  charge  the  Trentine, 
which  the  Tuscan  wife  of  Romano  had  de 
sired  to  hold,  as  affording  a  safe  way  for 
Frederick  between  Germany  and  Italy,  and 
there  maintain  her  power  by  Salinguerra's 
help. 

Taurello,  meanwhile,  had  thought  it  expe 
dient  to  temporize,  and  on  the  very  day  of 
the  outrage  at  Ferrara  he  betrothed  Palma 
to  St.  Boniface ;  and  as  the  latter  quitted 
Verona  instantly  for  the  siege,  Palma  came 
directly  to  the  latter  city,  and  being  thus 
ready  to  confirm  or  annul  the  compact,  put 
Richard  in  the  wrong.  And  now,  what 
glory  may  not  come  to  Bordello  through  this 

1  Matilda,  Countess  of  Tuscany,  was  a  firm  friend  of 
Pope  Gregory  VII.  It  was  at  her  castle  of  Canossa  that 
the  famous  meeting  between  the  Emperor  Henry  IV. 
and  Pope  Gregory  took  place.  She  bequeathed  her  do 
minions  to  the  Holy  See,  and  the  question  as  to  the  feu 
dal  homage  due  for  them  was  a  source  of  many  quarrels 
between  the  Popes  and  Emperors. 


go  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

state  of  things  ?  A  month  since  Ecelin  has 
taken  monkish  vows,  but  yet  Salinguerra 
cannot  definitely  abandon  his  liege  lord. 
He  writes  to  ask  i£  he  shall  still  hold  him 
self,  as  he  is  ready  to  be  held,  at  his  old 
master's  orders,  or  if  the  sons  of  Romano  are 
now  the  head  of  the  House.  The  letter  has 
been  sent  by  Palma,  and  the  answer  is  to 
be  given  by  her.  Her  father  refuses,  once 
for  all,  to  re-enter  the  world,  and  frees  Tau- 
rello  from  all  allegiance  to  himself.  Lest 
Salinguerra  be  depressed  by  this,  Palma  has 
determined  to  take  the  place  left  vacant  by 
her  father  and  her  brothers,  and  as  the 
Kaiser's  representative  sanction  the  steps 
which  Taurello  wishes  to  take.  She  now 
urges  Sordello  to  accompany  her  to  Ferrara, 
whither  she  will  go  in  minstrel's  dress,  and 
anticipating  the  various  envoys,  seek  the 
presence  of  Salinguerra,  whose  brave  words, 
she  trusts,  will  teach  her  lover,  what  she  be 
lieves  the  truth,  —  that  the  Emperor's  cause 
is  his  own. 

And  so  she  leaves  him.     Ere  the  morning 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  91 

dawns  he  has  resolved  that  he  will  indeed 
be  the  gate-vein  of  Lombardy's  heart's- 
blood,  the  soul  of  this  body.  Thus  will  he 
conquer  fate  though  he  be  doomed  to  live 
apart,  the  core  of  this  outer  crust  which  he 
has  vitalized. 

And  thus  Bordello  is  brought  to  rejoice 
in  the  crowd's  applause  because  one  round 
of  life  has  been  achieved  ;  he  has  found  that 
a  soul,  however  great,  is  insufficient  to  its 
own  happiness,  both  in  bodily  organs  and 
in  the  skill  to  manifest  the  imagination  by 
means  of  them  ;  and  again  to  show  to  men 
that  imagination,  and  oblige  them  to  recog 
nize  that  which  is  hidden  by  what  has  been 
revealed.  He  has  learned  also  that,  when 
the  last  struggle  was  over,  the  will  which 
had  been  bidden  to  abdicate  its  throne  and 
would  not,  might  yet  be  allowed  to  reign, 
and  would  permit  him  to  enjoy  mankind. 
He  sees  now  uiat  it  is  his  true  duty  to  in 
spire  the  people  to  action,  not  merely  to  in 
vite  them  to  behold  him  acting  the  parts 
which  should  be  theirs  to  play. 


BOOK  IV. 

JEANTIME  Ferrara  is  torn  by  the 
struggles  of  contending  factions. 
Taurello  has  held  a  conference 
with  the  Emperor's  envoy,  whom  he  dis 
misses  in  apparent  haste  to  make  way  for 
the  deputies  of  the  Eastern  League,  who  are 
accompanied  by  the  Papal  Legate.  The 
carrochs  l  of  the  various  cities  are  drawn  up 
in  the  square,  which  is  filled  with  people 
and  gay  with  flaunting  banners.  The  cit 
izens  have  striven  to  put  as  good  a  face  as 
possible  upon  their  disastrous  condition,  and 
they  have  crowded  together  to  discuss  af 
fairs:  some  rejoice  that  Ecelin's  banner  is 
missing,  but  they  are  reminded  that  magic 

1  The  carroch,  or  carrocc/o,  was  a  huge  wagon  in  which 
the  standard  of  the  city  was  carried  into  battle.  It  also 
bore  a  cross  and  a  great  bell.  It  was  placed  in  the  centre 
of  the  army,  and  zealously  guarded  from  risk  of  capture. 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  9} 

arts  may  help  him  now,  as  they  have  done  in 
his  wife's  lifetime,  to  a  knowledge  of  what 
passes  in  his  absence.  We  enter  now  a  gar 
den  full  of  southern  trees  and  blossoms, 
and  adorned  with  statues,  brought  by  Salin- 
guerra  from  Messina  to  please  his  Sicilian 
bride,  as  was  also  the  font  at  Goito,  which 
he  gave  to  Adelaide.  But  these  statues  are, 
like  their  owner,  full  of  active  life,  able  to 
right  themselves.  Here  he  holds  Boniface 
imprisoned  ;  here  the  envoys  must  come  to 
sue  for  grace ;  and  here  we  find  Sordello, 
who  has  visited  Este's  camp  and  seen  the  en 
voys'  march  and  the  Papal  train.  Not  now  as 
when  he  held  himself  aloof,  save  for  the  fan 
tastic  tie  he  was  willing  to  acknowledge  ;  the 
more  he  regarded  them,  the  less  satisfied  he 
now  felt  with  the  part  he  was  playing.  Was 
this  the  humanity  he  had  raved  over,  and 
wished  to  become  one  with?  Are  all  men 
notable  alike?  As  well  expect  to  find  all 
Taurello's  trees  one  pine.  A  pine  does  rise 
here  and  there,  the  rest  are  lowly  shrubs. 
How  few  the  chiefs  of  men  I  And  yet  the 


94  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

people  grow,  grow  ever,  until  it  seems  as  if 
each  leader  lost  his  individuality  and  be 
came  merely  the  head  of  absent  Paduans  or 
Tyrolese.  While  thus  he  meditated  old 
memories  returned  with  new  effect,  and  be 
fore  he  was  aware  he  and  mankind  were 
one ;  and  yet  the  people  seemed  beneath 
him.  What  cared  he  for  a  mind  here  and 
there  to  repay  him,  if  all  the  rest  were  base  ? 
Somehow  he  must  establish  an  equilibrium, 
and  secure  for  the  many  the  long-possessed 
privileges  of  the  few.  He  should  think  first 
of  men  and  of  their  wants :  when  these  were 
satisfied,  then  he  should  find  room  for  the 
finer  qualities  of  his  own  soul  to  act.  He 
wondered  now  that  when  he  had  dreamed  of 
ruling  mankind  he  had  never  thought  that 
he  might  benefit  them  also  and  thus  swell 
with  theirs  his  sum  of  pleasure.  His  first 
aim  must  be  to  render  mankind  happy  ;  and 
now  he  began  to  have  a  dim  idea  of  the  im 
port  of  warring  parties  which  so  abused 
each  other.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  con 
test,  the  master-spring ;  which  of  the  two 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  95 

could  do  most  good  to  the  people ;  which 
best  knew  how  to  do  it  ?  He  has  an  inter 
view  with  Salinguerra,  but  leaves  him  more 
perplexed  than  before.  He  strays  about  the 
streets,  looking  at  the  misery  that  war  has 
wrought,  "  to  serve,"  as  he  says,  "  Tau- 
rello's  ends."  He  forgets  that  it  is  equally 
to  serve  Azzo's  or  St.  Boniface's.  He 
stands  among  the  throng  about  the  Veronese 
carroch,  and  being  recognized  as  a  minstrel, 
is  called  upon  to  sing  a  song  of  Bordello's. 
Then  he  rejoices  that  this  noble  gift  is  his, 
and  having  sung,  turns  to  a  youth  beside 
him,  to  whom  he  declares  his  name.  The 
youth  is  Palma  in  disguise,  and  she  leads 
him  away  from  the  place. 

Taurello  has  seen  the  envoys  of  Emperor 
and  Pope,  and  now  he  sits  alone.  On  the 
wall  of  the  chamber  the  green  and  yellow 
colors  of  Romano  flank  the  two-headed 
eagle  of  the  Empire ;  on  the  table  lie  the  im 
perial  rescript  and  badge  which  may  make 
him  the  Vicar  of  Frederick  in  Northern 
Italy.  But  his  thoughts  are  strangely  drawn 


g6  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

to  Bordello,  the  last,  as  he  is  the  first  ser 
vant  of  Romano.  How  great  the  contrast ! 
The  minstrel's  thirty  years  spent  in  doing 
nothing,  this  day's  journey  their  greatest 
event ;  how  lean  and  old  they  have  left  him, 
how  awkward  and  ill  at  ease  he  looks ;  while 
Salinguerra,  sixty  years  old,  after  a  life 
spent  in  camp  and  court,  with  Popes  and 
Emperors,  is  quick,  graceful,  splendid.  Be 
side  the  Kaiser's  rescript  lies  a  letter  from 
Ecelin,  emphasizing  his  withdrawal  from  ac 
tive  life.  Shall  he  fill  Romano's  place,  and 
reign  as  the  Emperor's  Vicar  ? 

He  recalls  his  past  life;  how,  when  yet 
a  boy,  he  had  been  robbed  of  his  prom 
ised  bride  by  St.  Boniface's  father,  who  had 
wedded  her  to  Azzo  of  Este.  He  had  then 
betaken  himself  to  Sicily  and  the  court  of 
Henry  of  Swabia,  whence  he  afterwards  re 
turned,  bringing  with  him  a  fair  southern 
bride,  Retrude,  of  the  imperial  Hohenstaufen 
line,  for  whom  he  built  a  palace  and  pre 
pared  broad  "gardens  more  noble  than  any 
Ferrara  could  display;  and  when  his  son 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  97 

was  born  to  him,  men  said  that  he  would 
visit  Mantua  and  assert  his  power  there  also. 
And  now  the  Guelfs,  fearful  of  losing  place, 
rise  in  arms,  and  the  Ghibelline  quarter  of 
the  city  was  fired  in  a  fray  in  which  Ecelin 
had  endeavored  to  put  down  the  insurrection. 
Taurello  then  lost  wife  and  child,  and  became 
henceforth  fully  absorbed  in  the  fortunes 
of  Romano,  whom  he  supports,  aided  by 
Adelaide.  His  course  is  quite  incomprehen 
sible  to  Henry,  as  to  his  brother  Philip,  for 
they  value  Salinguerra  far  higher  than  his 
lord.  Otto  IV.,  seeing  Ecelin  harsh  and 
unready,  Taurello  facile  and  sparkling,  con 
cludes  that  his  predecessors'  judgments  have 
been  influenced  by  outside  show,  and  so 
fixes  his  choice  upon  the  former. 

Such  is  Salinguerra,  who,  with  no  thought 
of  graces,  took  them  as  they  came  ;  learned 
to  speak  Greek,  because  Greeks  are  hard  to 
hold  to  contracts ;  learned  Arabic,  because 
that  helped  him  to  master  astrology,  in  which 
he  assisted  Adelaide,  who  relied  for  much  of 
her  power  on  magic  ;  controlled  Frederick  ; 


p£  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

patronized  art ;  sang,  played  upon  the  lute, 
and  was  a  mighty  warrior  in  battle. 

Salinguerra,  who  wished  to  look  into  the 
minds  of  men  that  he  might  learn  their  pur 
poses  and  capabilities,  displayed  himself  so 
far  as  was  needful  to  make  men  display 
themselves. 

Bordello  cared  to  know  men  merely  that 
he  might  display  himself,  and  valued  them 
only  as  they  drew  out  or  expressed  that  self 
in  him. 

As  time  passed  on,  men  noticed  that 
whenever  Taurello  was  absent  the  power  of 
Romano  waned,  nor  could  he  be  prevailed 
upon  always  to  recall  his  adviser ;  his  wife 
was  his  chief  support,  and  when  she  died 
destruction  threatened.  Then  Taurello  once 
more  assumed  his  old  part,  restored  things 
by  a  touch,  and  struck  Este  down.  Men 
remembered  now  the  old  hate  he  bore  to 
Azzo,  which  of  late  had  been  prudently  con 
cealed,  for  not  only  Azzo's  fall,  but  the  ruin 
of  the  whole  House  of  Este  was  what  he 
desired. 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  99 

He  stands  thoughtful  in  the  window,  and 
there  rises  up  before  him  that  whole  night  of 
fire  and  blood,  when  all  he  loved  was  lost, 
and  he  determines  that  Ecelin,  whose  wife 
and  child  were  saved,  shall  help  him  to 
revenge.  He  can  be  Vicar  if  he  choose ; 
but  to  what  end?  His  life  must  wear 
itself  out  in  the  roar  and  foam  of  adventure, 
nor  will  any  trace  of  him  remain.  Fate  has 
ordained  that  he  shall  make  others  power 
ful,  not  himself,  nor  can  he  bear  to  thrust 
Ecelin's  children  from  their  father's  place. 

Bordello  and  Palma  stand  together  by  an 
extinguished  watch-fire  ;  he  entreats  her  to 
tell  him  how  to  play  a  man's  part  in  the 
world ;  to  show  him  if  somehow  good  may 
be  the  final  goal  behind  all  the  ill  he  sees ; 
shall  he  believe  in  Salinguerra,  who  seems 
to  be  all  that  Bordello  should  be  ?  But  he 
does  so  many  deeds  of  violence ;  do  the 
Guelfs  commit  such  acts  also  ?  And  Palma 
shows  him  that  the  Guelfs  are  indeed  no 
more  just  or  gentle.  Then  he  feels  that 
since  both  parties  are  so  evil  in  what  they 


ioo  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

do,  he  is  rather  worthy  of  praise  than 
blame  for  having  done  nothing,  since,  if  he 
has  accomplished  no  good,  at  least  he  has 
wrought  no  ill.  And  he  fancies  that  there 
may  be  a  third  cause,  which  it  is  left  to  him 
to  discover.  Here  a  bystander  bids  him 
take  as  the  subject  of  a  ballad  the  famous 
Crescentius.  Bordello  has  never  heard  of 
him,  and  the  speaker,  who  was  once  a  friar, 
goes  on  to  tell  him  how  that  man  had  defied 
both  Pope  and  Emperor,  had  been  called 
Roman  Consul,  had  trusted  the  people,  and 
wished  to  restore  the  vanished  Republic. 
Pope  and  Emperor  combined  against  him, 
and  he  was  crucified  in  the  Forum.  Sor- 
dello  is  called  upon  to  sing  to  the  people  a 
song  of  Rome. 

And  in  truth  Rome  seemed  to  him  to  be 
the  one  point  of  light  that  was  to  illuminate 
the  world ;  all  other  cities  but  strove  to  re 
semble  it ;  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  sought, 
not  to  change,  but  to  possess  it ;  then  let 
Rome  advance!  It  was  Rome  as  she 
seemed  to  the  ignorant  Bordello,  and  Rome 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  101 

was  the  cause  he  longed  to  uphold :  the 
ancient  Rome,  the  Rome  of  the  Civil  Law, 
of  the  Capitol,  of  St.  Angelo;  where  the 
new  is  brought  into  harmony  with  the  old, 
the  temporal  with  the  spiritual ;  law,  order, 
religion,  all  from  the  type  of  that  power  that 
shall  give  its  rights  unto  mankind. 

"  Let  us  have  Rome  again  !  "  cries  Sor- 
dello.  "  I  am  the  one  fated  to  rebuild  it ; 
such  a  future  is  the  justification  of  such  a 
past !  "  And  full  of  this  thought  he  rushes 
out  to  make  it  living  among  the  people,  to 
let  their  facts  complete  his  dream. 


BOOK  V. 


UT  the  evening  sees  Sordello  in 
another  mood.  His  dream  of 
Home  without  an  Emperor  has 
faded.  The  people  whom  he  has  seen, 
drunken,  ignorant,  brutal,  are  scarcely  the 
ideal  citizens  of  his  ideal  city.  Yet  he  should 
remember  how  great  of  old  was  the  labor  of 
building  the  Roman  state  ;  how  mankind 
has  toiled  upward  from  the  cave-dwellers  to 
the  workers  in  brick  and  stone.  How  use 
came  first,  and  how  art  then  followed.  The 
work  moved  on  step  by  step  ;  there  was  no 
possibility  of  overleaping  details  and  gain 
ing  the  full  glory  at  a  bound,  when  every 
change  in  building  -  materials  exacted  an 
architect  and  an  age.  The  men  to  whom  a 
maple  log  was  a  luxury  hardly  cared  for 
priceless  Mauritanian  tables.1 


1  Citrus  -  wood    tables     sent    from  Northern    Africa 
brought  fabulous  prices  in  the  luxurious  days  of  Home. 


Tbe  Story  of  the  Poem.  103 

"  Better,"  you  say,  "  to  merge  all  common 
workmen  in  the  master,  all  epochs  in  one." 
Then  indeed  the  sudden  city  might  bask  in 
the  daylight,  but  its  citizens  would  be  quite 
incapable  of  comprehending  or  enjoying  the 
privileges  that  had  fallen  to  their  lot. 

"  Enough  of  Rome,"  thinks  Bordello. 
"  Fate  has  added  another  to  the  list  of  beau 
tiful  things  that  Bordello  cannot  do." 

Thus  sitting,  lonely  and  despondent,  he 
hears  within  his  heart  a  voice  that  speaks : 
"  God,  Bordello,  has  given  to  man  two 
sights  —  one  of  the  perfected  plan  of  time, 
one  of  the  moment's  work ;  what  have  you 
lost  save  the  hope  of  taking  that  supreme 
step,  the  knowledge  of  which  was  vouchsafed 
to  you,  that  you  might  have  courage  to  take 
your  own  step,  and  to  abide  by  that,  leaving 
the  end  to  hope  ?  All  that  is  gone  is  the 
glory  that  crowns  the  labor,  and  which, 
could  you  thus  speedily  compass,  you  were 
God,  not  man.  The  first  step  is  still  yours 
to  take,  and  you  are  to  learn  this  truth,  that 
mankind  can  accomplish  more  than  any  in- 


104  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

dividual  man ;  but  there  must  be  some  one 
to  take  the  first  step.  There  is  no  perfect 
poet,  for  one  excels  in  strength,  and  one  in 
grace.  So  it  is  in  the  world  at  large.  Are 
you  the  first  to  give  a  definite  form  to  the 
many  ?  Was  there  not,  centuries  ago,  one 
who  devised  an  apparition  in  the  midst  of 
that  loose,  perpetual  unrest?  A  sudden, 
splendid  flower  who  drew  all  things  to  him 
self,  the  child  of  joyous  life,  the  embodi 
ment  of  strength ;  —  Charlemagne  has  lived. 
So  strong  and  grand  and  calm,  he  seems  un 
feeling  in  his  superb  confidence  and  content. 
He  formed  of  the  multitude  one  magnificent 
body ;  is  it  the  province  of  Hildebrand 1  to 
vitalize  that  body  with  a  soul  ?  Is  the  State 
strength,  and  the  Church  knowledge  ?  For 
three  hundred  years  the  two  powers  have 
appeared  to  touch  each  other ;  the  great 

1  Hildebrand,  or  Gregory  VII.,  one  of  the  most  fa 
mous  of  the  Popes.  He  enforced  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy,  and  attempted  to  deprive  laymen  of  all  part  in 
investing  the  clergy  with  their  offices.  He  lived  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century.  Contemporary  and 
opponent  of  the  Emperor  Henry  IV. 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  705 

Caesars  bear  up  the  Crowns,1  the  iron  of 
Aix,  the  silver  of  Milan,  and  the  gold  of 
Eome ;  the  great  Popes  lift  up  the  Keys. 
But  how  do  the  great  and  small  unite  ? 
The  Crusaders  seek  to  create  strength  by 
other  aid  than  strength  alone ;  a  spiritual 
force  is  behind  them ;  it  is  a  safe  plan ;  as 
also  is  that  of  the  League,  which  opposes 
force  by  force ;  while  from  the  preaching  of 
the  clergy  may  come  the  possibility  of  super 
seding  strength.  Who,  strong  in  being 
feeling  yet  unfeeling  too,  shall  bring  in 
the  next  age  ?  No,  Sordello  believes  Hil- 
debrand's  task  is  not  yet  accomplished  ; 
there  is  still  work  for  him  to  do.  In 
thought  he  wrenches  asunder  the  scaffold  of 
Charles ;  but  the  work  starts  back,  and  he 
feels  that  he  can  only  confirm  and  better, 
not  destroy ;  that  strength  and  knowledge 

1  The  crown  of  the  German  kingdom  taken  at  Aachen, 
of  Lombardy  at  Milan,  of  the  Empire  at  Rome.  They 
were  said  to  be  respectively  of  silver,  iron,  and  gold. 
Not  quite  in  the  order  of  the  text.  The  terms  were  prob 
ably  employed  symbolically,  as  indicating  the  estimation 
in  which  each  was  held  at  that  time. 


io6  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

must  work  together;  that  the  warrior  and 
the  poet  should  no  longer  be  dissevered  in 
him,  and  since  he  is  ambitious  of  remodel 
ing  the  world,  let  him  go  to  Salinguerra, 
and  secure  his  aid  to  keep  the  Guelfs  in 
power." 

He  finds  Taurello  and  Palma  together ; 
he  has  his  chance  at  last,  and  he  makes  the 
most  of  it.  But  after  all  his  rhetoric  avails 
only  to  show  that  he  would  turn  Salinguerra 
to  the  papal  side ;  that  the  God  of  Goito 
has  dwindled  into  a  Guelfic  partisan  ;  and 
his  old  fault  recurs  :  he  cannot  help  look 
ing  at  himself  while  he  is  speaking,  and 
wondering  how  his  hearers  are  impressed,  as 
he  shows  the  great  chief  how  necessary  it  is 
that  Lombardy  should  get  rid  of  her  barons. 
Meanwhile  Taurello,  famed  for  tact,  a  man 
who,  careless  of  phrases,  never  lacked  the 
right  one,  looked  as  if  all  were  as  it  should 
be,  and  he  were  interested  in  every  point. 
His  only  answer  is,  "  Does  poetry  turn  hair 
white  sooner  than  politics  ?  " 

Then  the  bitter  truth  flashes  upon  Sor- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  707 

dello  that  fancies  have  so  weakened  his 
power,  that  he  no  longer  possesses  earnest 
ness,  nor  the  wish  to  work,  nor  yet  the 
power  to  express  how  urgent  is  the  need  of 
working.  He  sees  the  base  years  drag  on 
into  the  future,  while  he  writes  many  poems, 
no  doubt,  and  will  be  mourned  when  dead  as 
one  whose  best  survives  him.  Better  tear  out 
the  heart  of  the  truth  at  once !  Once  more 
he  begins  to  speak ;  the  bells  of  the  car- 
rochs  sound  from  the  square  below  ;  Taurello 
lifts  the  imperial  badge,  and  smilingly  asks 
Palma  if  this  will  satisfy  her ;  if  he  shall 
set  Boniface  free,  submit  their  strength  to 
the  Pope's  knowledge,  and  bestow  the  Em 
peror's  badge  upon  Azzo.  And,  laughing, 
he  wonders  who  will  hereafter  censure  the 
minstrel  for  lack  of  wisdom ;  surely  this 
speech  would  have  been  greatly  preferable 
to  the  bull-fight  he  had  lately  been  forced  to 
witness. 

But  contempt  saved  what  vanity  had  well- 
nigh  destroyed,  and  Sordello  now  found 
words  to  speak  out  his  thoughts ;  and  he 


io8  The  Story  of  the  Poem 

closes  with  the  bitter  expression  of  his  de 
spair  that  he  must  not  only  resign  to  Tau- 
rello  the  post  he  had  longed  to  fill,  but  must 
see  the  baron  scorn  to  take  the  place.  Then 
the  old  Goito  days  return  once  more  ;  he  is 
Apollo  and  knows  that  the  minstrel  is  in 
deed  a  king,  and  that  if  he  fail  of  asserting 
his  proper  royalty,  it  is  not  because  the  roy 
alty  is  lacking,  but  that  he  has  been  thrust 
aside  as  inexpert  to  fill  the  poet's  throne. 
He  has  seen  too  late  that  kingship  does  not 
lie  in  the  forms  he  would  imitate  ;  these  he 
could  but  copy.  Include  the  multitude,  and 
let  it  include  you  in  turn  ;  so  shall  you  fill 
your  place,  to  make  way  in  another  age  for 
yet  another  sovereign.  Before  song,  deeds 
made  up  the  world,  but  thought  is  the  soul 
of  action,  and  the  poet  presents  to  us  the 
masque  of  life,  and  shows  its  varied  forms, 
and  allots  to  each  its  praise  or  blame.  The 
poet  turns  ends  attained  to  means,  and  from 
the  old  structures  he  erects  the  new,  as  Ven 
ice  plunders  every  clime  to  make  her  Duomo 
splendid.  To  the  Guelfic  cause,  which  he 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  /op 

believes  the  People's,  lie  would  win  Salin- 
guerra,  who,  long  past  surprise,  turns  to 
Palma,  and  says  briefly,  "You  love  him, 
and  you  know  your  father's  will,  who  would, 
by  giving  up  much  of  his  territory,  procure 
from  the  Pope  peace  for  his  two  sons.  And 
so  would  end  all  my  hopes  !  Shall  they  so 
end,  or  shall  I  try  my  fortune?  Nay,  the 
place  is  for  the  young  and  not  for  me.  If 
you  were  Ecelin  !  —  but  stay  —  this  youth 
has  flattered  me  as  I  have  not  been  flattered 
this  many  a  day.  A  little  help  might  make 
a  leader  of  him."  And  turning  he  flings 
upon  Sordello's  neck  the  Emperor's  badge. 

"  You  are  Komano's  head,  and  you  shall 
have  Palma  for  your  spouse !  " 

Then  as  they  gazed  into  each  other's  eyes 
a  truth  grew  up  between  them  ;  sire  and  son 
sat  by  each  other,  while  Palma  recounted 
the  tale  she  had  heard  from  Adelaide's 
dying  lips,  and  they  learned  that  on  that 
awful  night  of  fire  and  slaughter  Ketrude, 
Salinguerra's  wife,  had  been  rescued  with 
her  infant,  and  borne  to  Goito,  where  she 


/  io  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

shortly  after  died,  and  was  buried  beneath 
the  font  where  Sordello  so  oft  had  rested. 
Her  son  was  hidden  away  by  Adelaide,  and 
feigned  an  archer's  child,  lest  Taurello,  hav 
ing  him  to  live  for,  should  come  into  his 
true  place,  and  overtop  her  husband. 

Hardly  able  to  grasp  the  truth,  Salin- 
guerra  talks  wildly  of  all  he  will  do  for  his 
son,  so  late  known  to  him,  until  Palina 
takes  his  arms  from  Sordello' s  neck,  and 
leads  him  from  the  room.  Still  he  talks  on 
of  politics  with  Palma,  when  she  turns  him 
from  that  subject  to  tell  him  how  all  men 
love  the  poet,  while  Taurello  drinks  in  every 
word,  and  foretells  great  glory  to  Romano 
when  Palma  and  Sordello  shall  be  united. 
Strong  they  shall  be,  he  declares,  to  over 
throw  Hildebrand  and  build  up  Charles, 
but  adding  to  strength  knowledge. 

Suddenly  a  sound  comes  to  them,  which 
silences  speech.  "  'T  is  his  own  footstep, 
his  summons ! "  and  they  stagger  quickly 
up  the  stair. 


BOOK  VI. 

was  a  thought  of  Eglamor's  that 
man  shrinks  into  nothingness  when 
matched  with  the  symbols  of  im 
mensity,  and  must  quail  before  a  quiet  sea 
or  sky.  And  as  the  evening  sank  low,  and 
only  one  spot  of  light  gleamed  upon  the 
opposite  river,  something  in  Bordello's  mood 
seemed  to  confirm  its  speciousness.  So  he 
sat,  until  roused  by  the  din  of  the  city, 
while  memory  brought  all  his  own  life  in  re 
view  before  him,  a  life  where  each  change 
seemed  to  him  to  have  been  right,  until, 
viewing  it  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge, 
he  could  see  how  it  had  checked  some  other. 
The  true  way  seemed  to  be  formed  of  all 
ways,  many  moods  of  the  one  mind,  tokens 
of  an  existence  which  needed  but  some  outer 
influence,  some  soul  above  his  soul  to  lift  it, 
as  the  moon  stirs  the  depths  of  ocean.  But 


H2  The  Story  of  tie  Poem. 

no  moon  of  love  arose  in  his  sky,  and  thus 
his  sensitiveness  had  grown  or  dwindled  at 
caprice,  and  was  spilt  in  showers  of  foam, 
never  gathered  up  into  one  mighty  wave  en 
compassing  the  earth.  Others,  less  than  he, 
had  yet  some  core  within,  that,  yielding  to 
some  moon,  fulfilled  a  certain  purpose  in  the 
world. 

To  every  one  who  lives  there  must  be 
some  fruit  of  life,  to  each  in  his  own  de 
gree  ;  to  every  one  there  must  be  some  point 
toward  which  he  tends  ;  spirits,  compressing 
all  they  know  of  beauty  into  one  star  of 
glory,  dream  that  one  day  it  will  bestow 
upon  them  some  gleams  of  its  own  splendor. 
Whether  it  be  beauty  that  they  crave,  or 
knowledge,  whether  it  be  love  or  hate,  they 
yet  pursue  something  above  them,  some 
thing  beyond  their  present  existence.  Not 
that  love  like  Palina's  or  hate  like  Salin- 
guerra's  would  be  equal  to  swaying  all  Sor- 
dello.  Why  doubt  that  there  must  be  some 
where  love  to  match  his  strength,  some 
moon  to  be  meet  for  his  sea  ?  Why  fear, 


The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

« 

since  he  has  known  the  Good,  that  he  shall 
not  some  day  know  the  Best  ?  Ah,  but  the 
Best  eludes  us ;  we  had  hoped  for  men  far 
beyond  those  we  see  about  us,  and  we  may 
be  foolish,  seeing  a  good,  to  argue  a  best 
beyond.  Is  an  external  power  needed? 
May  he  not  be  ordained  a  law  unto  himself  ? 
If  laws  are  veiled  in  mercy  to  those  who 
cannot  strive  unless  some  embodied  want 
lure  them  on !  A  stronger  vision  could  en 
dure  the  bodiless  want,  nor  would  it  mistake 
a  bauble  for  a  truth.  The  People  were  him 
self,  and  was  he  less  impelled  by  pity  to 
alter  the  discrepancies  in  their  position 
than  if  a  sickly  part  were  abstracted  from  a 
sound  whole,  and  palmed  off  upon  him  as 
alien  suffering  ?  Proud  to  forsake  himself, 
shall  he  aid  the  Guelf s  ?  No,  all  is  himself, 
and  all  service  rates  alike,  not  serving  one 
by  destroying  another,  but  all  in  time. 
"  Put  by  the  picturesque  achievements  for 
the  present,  and  do  the  daily,  common  tasks." 
The  People  urge  their  claims,  and  he  now 
realizes  how  much  easier  it  is  to  do  some 


H4  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

one  great  act,  to  soften  signal  horrors,  than 
by  constant,  vast  and  hidden  toil  to  assuage 
constant,  vast  and  hidden  suffering.  Now 
the  People  are  in  need  of  help,  and  how 
small  the  service  that  he  can  render,  ever 
could  have  rendered !  Let  youth  be  aware 
that  it  has  surprised  one  serviceable  truth  ; 
can  it  use  it,  and  turn  to  seize  a  fresh  prey  ? 
Nay,  it  takes  a  lifetime  to  bring  this  within 
the  comprehension  of  the  crowd,  and  ere 
that  is  done  the  captor  sees  a  crowd  of  other 
truths  yet  nobler,  which  he  might  learn  had 
he  as  many  lives.  And  he  recalls  the  story 
of  many  a  bard  who  has  sunken  below  man 
hood  in  grasping  at  the  divine. 

"  Yet  to  begin  merits  a  crown  !  Truth 
must  be  casual  truth,  nor  is  it  likely  that 
the  whole  truth,  which,  if  rightly  appre 
hended,  had  sent  the  world  upon  its  proper 
pathway,  has  ever  been  at  one  time  in  the 
world.  One  must  be  content  with  the 
chance  sparkles  now  and  then  struck  out." 
Now  was  the  moment  for  Bordello's  gleam, 
wretched  though  it  was.  He  would  dash 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  7/5 

the  Caesar's  badge  to  the  ground,  perhaps 
persuade  Taurello  to  turn  Frederick  from 
his  purpose  ;  at  least  he  can  bear  witness  to 
his  own  belief.  But  first  let  him  consider ; 
were  that  little  truly  service  ?  "  In  the  end, 
no  doubt,  but  in  the  time  between  ?  Would 
that  it  were  as  easy  to  see  what  each  day's 
fraction  of  work  should  be,  as  to  compre 
hend  what  befits  the  sum  of  life  ! " 

Bordello  never  doubts  that  he  should  aid 
the  Guelfs,  but  to  do  this  various  natures 
must  be  controlled,  and  moved  with  refer 
ence  to  future  ends ;  old  loves  and  hates, 
the  sympathy  or  aversion  of  the  Present 
must  be  put  aside  for  the  sake  of  so  feeble  a 
Future.  For  slightest  cause  must  men  be 
saved  if  they  will  aid  the  Papal  party,  for 
slightest  cause  destroyed  if  they  oppose  it. 
Shall  he  ruin  many  good  purposes  for  the 
sake  of  one  ?  Spoil  a  good  work  half  done 
for  one  just  begun?  Rise  one  step  with  the 
People  to  sink  one?  Evil  is  everywhere 
made  beautiful ;  shall  Beauty  then  be  thrust 
aside  that  we  may  be  rid  of  Evil  ?  Is  not 
Evil,  after  all,  as  natural  a  result  as  Good  ? 


/ 1 6  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

Pass  over  the  struggles  of  trees  and  flow 
ers  with  the  seasons,  the  miserable  strife 
among  beasts,  care  only  for  man,  and  we 
see  that  it  is  the  sorrow  caused  by  the  ills 
he  suffers  that  charms  one's  sympathy ;  were 
he  free  from  sorrow  he  were  free  from  you. 
Joy  itself  is  but  the  overcoming  of  obstacles, 
the  making  the  privileges  of  the  few  the  pos 
session  of  the  many.  The  quiet  perfections 
of  Goito  had  wearied  him,  and  it  is  by  tri 
umphing  over  difficulties  that  men  win  sal 
vation  ;  the  view  of  life  is  disclosed  by 
degrees,  as  we  climb  the  mountain-sides ; 
scaling  height  after  height,  and  piercing  veil 
after  misty  veil,  we  take  fresh  courage ;  in 
the  soul  is  formed  the  idea  of  that  Whole, 
which  we  must  seek  by  Parts ;  had  the 
Whole  been  ours  at  first  what  enjoyment 
could  have  been  ours  of  gradual  gains? 
The  time  that  seems  so  short  to  include  all 
the  Parts  were  more  than  enough  to  exhaust 
the  Whole  were  it  once  attained,  and  all  that 
we  should  have  gained  would  be  leave  to 
look,  not  leave  to  do.  To  look  beneath  is 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  nj 

soon  enjoyed,  but  to  one  who  looks  above, 
death  comes  before  a  tithe  of  life  has  been 
tasted.  Live  first,  Sordello !  die  then  soon 
enough  !  Give  to  body  and  spirit  their  first 
right,  the  right  to  life,  and  feel  that  you  are 
able  to  extort  joy  from  sorrow,  and  gold 
from  clods,  which  to  all  but  you  are  clods 
only,  and  would  have  remained  forever 
such,  had  you  not  lighted  for  them  your  re 
fining  fires. 

It  had  been  better  if  you  had  but  secured 
an  ampler  treasure  !  They  crave,  as  it  is,  a 
share  that  ruins  you,  and  will  not  save  them. 
Why,  for  the  sake  of  sympathy,  should  you 
renounce  what  delights  you,  and  cannot 
benefit  them?  Would  all  reach  joy?  The 
road  is  one  for  all,  but  the  times  of  journey 
ing  are  many ;  hinder  no  soul  that  in  the 
general  march  has  the  earlier  start ;  all 
come  at  length  to  the  same  point.  Help  011 
the  crowd's  Then,  but  remember  how  this 
badge  would  make  your  Now  more  joyous. 

As  he  mused,  his  capacity  for  action 
seemed  to  grow  to  giant  size  compared  with 


i 1 8  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

the  impotence  of  the  world  at  large  to  profit 
by  the  sacrifice  of  his  happiness.  Shall  he 
make  nothing  of  his  life  because  it  is  so 
brief?  Nay,  rather,  for  that  very  reason 
make  more  of  it !  Leave  virtue  untried, 
and  grasp  the  delights  of  sin,  and  if  time 
condemn,  Sordello  will  have  slipped  away  to 
the  quiet  of  Goito. 

The  active  few  can  cope  with  the  many ; 
be  active,  then !  And  even  if  the  multitude 
suffer  somewhat,  't  is  but  one  pang  to  the 
brimming  bowl  of  pleasure.  Does  Fate 
really  destine  him  to  live  in  the  Eternal 
City  ?  To  live  !  It  is  the  cry  of  Bordello's 
heart,  to  live  once  before  he  dies !  Helps 
and  hinderances  he  disregards  if  only  he 
may  live,  live  now,  not  wait  for  some  tran 
scendent  future.  Perhaps,  after  death,  a 
grander  glory  may  await  his  soul,  but  how 
to  be  enjoyed  he  cannot  tell.  Fate  is  ex- 
haustless  for  him,  but  does  she  bid  him 
grasp  what  the  present  brings  or  wait  for 
future  splendors?  It  were  absurd  to  slight 
the  present  for  the  hereafter.  Here  is  the 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  1 19 

crowd  which  he  is  willing  to  spend  his  life 
in  serving,  if  only  he  may  serve  it.  If  not, 
why  require  more  of  him  ? 

"  I  will  take  the  gift,"  he  cries,  "  nor  will 
I  falter  in  my  journey,  nor  decry  life  and  its 
delights.  I  will  praise  the  World,  though  it 
be,  as  you  declare,  but  the  anteroom  to  a  pal 
ace  ;  shall  I  assume  the  airs  of  a  palace  be 
fore  its  doors  are  open  to  me  ?  Shall  I,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  future  bliss,  regret  that  I 
disdained  what  the  present  offers  ? 

"  Let  me,  then,  have  stronger  hands  and 
feet,  but  for  the  present  no  wings.  And  yet 
this  cup,  which  I  would  drain  even  to  the 
dregs,  has  been  so  often  dashed  aside  ;  I  have 
so  often  had  glimpses  of  a  better  life,  hidden 
by  this,  a  life  fearlessly  sought  by  martyr, 
champion,  and  sage.  Let  me  but  see  that, 
and  I  too  am  glad  to  die.  Let  that  which 
masters  life  but  show  itself !  But  since 
truth  appears  so  various,  and  every  circle 
has  its  own  law,  how  can  one  discern  ab 
stract  right?"  And  so  for  the  moment  all 
qualities  of  good  and  evil  seemed  to  Sor- 


/20  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

dello  but  moods  of  this  world,  not  made  to 
bind  Eternity  and  Mind. 

Then  suddenly  he  felt  himself  alone,  out 
of  time  and  the  world.  What  had  caused 
all  his  past  despair?  Just  this.  Soul  be 
ing  thrust  upon  matter,  joy  comes  when  so 
much  soul  is  wreaked  in  time  on  matter, 
but  if  the  soul  raise  matter  beyond  what 
was  intended,  and  so  prevent  the  perform 
ance  of  actions,  sorrow  is  the  result.  The  in 
finite  soul  tries  to  instruct  the  body  as  to  its 
capabilities,  and  in  yearning  after  perfection 
it  loses  the  opportunities  it  might  enjoy ; 
till,  worn  out  with  efforts  to  attain  what  is 
beyond  its  grasp,  leaving  virtue  and  beauty 
unattained,  the  soul  seeks  to  show  that  these 
qualities  belong  to  time  alone,  and  that  the 
body  may  turn  ill  to  good,  and  reap  joy 
where  sorrow  was  meant  to  grow.  Then  the 
body  perishes  under  what  should  have  been 
a  blessing,  leaving  the  soul  in  dismay.  Can 
one  soul  never  behold  all  that  is,  the  great 
Before  and  After,  and  the  small  Now? 
But  where  shall  we  find  the  supreme  Love 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  121 

that  shall  show  the  course  that  soul  must 
travel  ?  Here  is  a  soul  upon  which  Nature 
has  exhausted  all  her  resources,  from  tree 
and  flower  to  mankind  at  large.  Shall  he 
save  that  or  not  ? 

Ah,  Sordello,  what  need  there  is  of  a 
power  so  far  above  you  that  you  cannot  re 
gard  it  as  a  rival !  Of  a  Power,  the  repre 
sentative  of  nature,  the  same  in  authority 
but  different  in  communication,  which  should 
claim  a  course  clear  as  Human,  though  hid 
den  as  Divine ! 

What  has  Sordello  found  I  Or  can  his 
spirit  go  the  mighty  round  to  end  where 
Eglamor  began  ?  As  says  the  old  fable, 
that  two  eagles  flew  two  different  ways 
about  the  earth,  and  where  they  met  men 
set  the  temple  of  Jove. 

Whose  step  is  first  that  rushes  up  the 
stair?  It  is  Salinguerra's,  though  sheathed 
in  mail.  They  enter,  and  behold  Sordello 
dead,  beneath  his  feet  the  badge,  and  in  his 
eyes  a  look  of  triumph,  like  that  of  some 
spent  swimmer,  who  sees  in  his  despair  help 


/22  Tl)e  Story  of  the  Poem. 

coming  from  above ;  for  he  has  trampled 
upon  what  seemed  to  him  a  temptation  to 
evil,  the  temptation  to  accept  a  life  lower 
than  his  ideal,  and  has  perished  in  the 
struggle,  but  the  prize  of  victory  is  his. 

Alas,  Bordello,  whom  they  laid  in  the  old 
font-tomb  at  Goito  at  his  mother's  side ! 

Time  passes,  and  young  Ecelin  comes  to 
fill  the  first  place  in  Lombardy.  Strange 
that  Sordello's  inability  to  shut  out  rivals 
from  the  stage,  an  inability  due  to  his  fatal 
disbelief  in  the  possibility  of  accomplishing 
anything,  thrust  the  two  sons  of  Romano 
into  Taurello's  guardianship,  and  enabled 
the  wretched  pair  to  demonstrate  that 
wherever  there  is  the  will  to  do,  something 
can  always  be  done,  whether  for  good  or  ill. 
And  so  they  plagued  the  world,  till  men 
rose  up  and  slew  them. 

The  chronicles  of  Mantua  tell  how  Sor- 
dello,  Prince  Visconti,  saved  that  city  and 
elsewhere  distinguished  himself  greatly ; 
that  he  was  famous  as  a  minstrel  and  fortu- 


The  Story  of  the  Poem.  123 

nate  as  a  lover ;  he  was  praised  for  the 
very  things  he  never  did  and  never  could 
have  done. 

For  what  he  should  have  been,  what  he 
might  have  been  and  would  not,  we  suffer 
to  this  day.  The  best  chance  that  there 
was  for  humanity  Ecelin  destroyed  before 
Dante  could  come,  and  for  the  sake  of  the 
suffering  world  dared  boldly  to  take  the  step 
Bordello  spurned.  Dante  did  much,  Sor- 
dello's  chance  was  lost  forever. 

Had  he  dared  take  that  step  alone,  he 
had  compassed  Apollo.  It  was  a  chance,  he 
would  have  come  to  him  rather  than  go  to  it. 

Like  one  who  would  gladly  sleep  at  home, 
while  supposed  to  be  fighting  or  singing 
abroad,  he  valued  the  few  real  things  he 
had  achieved  mainly  because  he  had  thus 
learned  that  they  are  valueless  and  need 
never  be  done  again. 

Had  Sordello  but  boldly  embraced  the 
chance  then  offered  to  him,  men  would  have 
plucked  the  apples  of  Hesperides,  and  prais 
ing  the  benefits  that  he  bestowed,  have 


124  The  Story  of  the  Poem. 

given  him  all  that  he  wished  to  appear,  but 
hardly  desired  to  be. 

After  all  a  life  such  as  his  is  but  a  sorry 
farce.  Can  we  say  nothing  better  of  him 
than  this  ? 

In  the  bright  summer  morning  while  the 
lark  sings,  mounting  heavenward,  above  the 
castle-walls,  a  merry  boy  brushes  the  dew 
from  the  grass  as  he  passes,  and  glad  at 
heart  he  sings  —  his  song  one  fragment  of 
the  old  Goito  lay,  that  spoke  the  praise  of 
Elys.  Sleep  and  forget,  Sordello  I 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  CHARACTER 
OF  SORDELLO. 


You  say,  "  Since  so  it  is,  good-bye, 
Sweet  life,  high  hope ;  but  whatsoe'er 

May  be,  or  must,  no  tongue  shall  dare 
To  tell,  « The  Lombard  feared  to  die  I '  " 
ARTHUR  HUGH  CLOUGH. 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  CHAKACTEE  OF 
BORDELLO. 

ME.  BROWNING  tells  us  that  the  story  of 
Bordello  is  the  history  of  the  development  of 
a  soul. 

It  would  seem  to  be,  in  some  respects,  the 
story  of  a  soul  whose  complete  and  harmo 
nious  development  has  been  thwarted  by 
the  circumstances  amid  which  it  finds  it 
self  ;  cut  off  by  a  lonely  life  from  the  edu 
cating  influences  of  the  outside  world  and 
from  that  correction  of  individual  views  that 
comes  from  contact  with  one's  fellows. 

His  is  a  soul  whose  noblest  aspirations 
are  hindered  by  a  certain  self-consciousness 
from  which  it  can  never  escape  ;  a  soul  too 
weak  and  inexperienced  to  control  circum 
stances,  too  willful  to  follow,  but  not  ardent 
enough  to  lead ;  too  unformed  in  judgment 
of  men  and  of  affairs,  and  too  deficient  in 


128    Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

political  insight  to  discover  the  better  way  ; 
too  true  and  noble  to  accept  what  it  believes 
to  be  the  worse. 

He  is  the  son  of  a  brave  and  accom 
plished  mediaeval  chieftain,  who  has  been 
nurtured  in  camps  and  courts,  and  who,  like 
so  many  of  his  contemporaries,  is  statesman, 
courtier,  warrior,  and  minstrel  in  one ;  his 
mother  is  of  that  wondrous  Hohenstaufen 
House,  in  which  great  mental  gifts  seem  to 
have  been  a  birthright.  But  Sordello,  with 
a  soul  full  of  lofty  ambitions,  grows  up  in 
the  belief  that  he  is  an  archer's  son,  who  is 
held  to  have  attained  high  honor  when  he 
has  become  his  lady's  chosen  minstrel. 

His  boyhood  and  youth  are  passed  in  a 
romantic  castle,  situated  in  a  solitary  spot, 
among  the  mountains,  surrounded  by  woods 
and  marshes,  in  the  company  of  a  few  ob 
jects  of  semi-classic  art,  and  with  trees  and 
flowers,  animals  and  birds  for  his  play-fel 
lows,  while  over  him  bends  the  blue  Italian 
sky. 

Human  companionship  he  has  none ;  his 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     129 

heart  swells  with  longing  to  enter  into  the 
life  of  everything  about  him ;  plant  and  ani 
mal  gain  a  certain  spiritual  life  from  him, 
but  at  the  expense  of  too  great  self-efface 
ment  on  his  part.  The  figures  that  are 
most  like  humanity  are  the  painted  warriors 
on  the  arras,  and  these,  too,  in  his  fancies, 
he  bids  live  and  act. 

All  the  castle  is  free  to  him,  save  the 
northern  chambers,  and  so,  too,  are  the 
woods  and  fields  about  it;  of  anything  of 
the  outer  world  he  has  but  two  brief 
glimpses:  one,  when  accidentally  penetrat 
ing  into  the  forbidden  apartments,  he  en 
counters  the  Ladye  of  the  castle  and  a  fair 
maiden,  who  sits  beside  her;  one,  when 
Ecelin,  the  master  of  the  house,  comes  to 
visit  his  wife  and  daughter,  and  Sordello 
watches  his  archer  train  wind  slowly  in  and 
out  among  the  vines,  and  recognizes  even 
then  that  there  may  be  a  tie  of  kinship  be 
tween  the  humble  house-leek  on  the  roof 
and  the  proud  baron  in  his  ringing  mail. 

A  few  chance  words  spoken  by  the  bow- 


i  jo    Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

men,  a  hint  now  and  then  from  the  foreign 
serving-women  about  him,  are  all  the  reports 
that  come  to  him  from  the  outside  life  of 
the  world. 

Time  passes  in  vague  dreams  and  aimless 
fantasies ;  unconscious  himself  of  the  want, 
he  stands  in  need  of  some  power  outside  of 
and  beyond  himself,  some  overmastering 
purpose  that  shall  show  to  him  some  goal 
towards  which  to  strive.  As  he  grows  older 
he  ceases  to  make  trees  and  flowers  his  com 
rades,  their  places  are  filled  by  human  im 
ages,  or  rather  by  certain  personified  essen 
tial  qualities  of  humanity,  as  strength, 
grace,  wisdom ;  these  qualities  are  gradually 
combined  in  his  mind  until  they  are  reduced 
to  a  few,  which  are  in  their  turn  resolved 
into  one  grand  personality,  to  which  he  longs 
to  give  a  name. 

Who  is  this  type  of  all  wise  and  heroic 
qualities?  Is  it  the  Caesar?  Or  does  he 
dwell  in  such  ineffable  greatness,  so  remote 
from  the  life  of  the  multitude,  that  no  touch 
of  emotion  can  come  to  him  from  the  crowd 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     131 

of  unhappy  men  and  women  who  are  perish 
ing  for  lack  of  help  ? 

Or  is  it  perhaps  the  minstrel,  who  rules 
the  world  by  song  ? 

Is  it  possible  that  it  may  one  day  be  his 
destiny  to  combine  the  two,  to  act  and  to 
sing,  to  be  both  Caesar  and  Apollo  ? 

But  there  is  in  Bordello's  spiritual  life 
one  fatal  defect,  a  certain  self-consciousness, 
that  will  one  day  be  his  ruin;  he  never 
ceases  to  question  what  men  will  think 
about  him,  how  his  deeds  and  words  are  re 
garded  by  the  world.  Even  when,  in  his 
dreams,  he  has  trampled  all  his  foes  beneath 
his  feet  and  only  admiring  worshipers  re 
main  ;  when  in  his  heart  he  has  taken  the 
proud  resolve  that  only  his  lord's  fair  daugh 
ter,  who  has  hitherto  disdained  all  suitors, 
shall  be  his  future  bride,  the  Daphne  to  his 
Apollo ;  —  even  then  he  cannot  refrain  from 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  the  whole 
world  shall  see  and  envy  him  her  love,  and 
when  great  cities  shall  bow  down  before  him 
in  reverence  for  his  fame. 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

That  world  with  which  he  has  never 
measured  himself,  whose  stern  criticism  he 
has  never  felt,  for  conflict  with  which  he  has 
never  yet  braced  heart  and  soul,  is  waiting, 
he  believes,  but  for  his  coming  to  hail  him 
for  its  king ! 

Then  comes  the  day  which  brings  him  be 
fore  his  wished-for  public,  the  day  which 
makes  him  Palma's  minstrel.  His  triumph 
for  the  moment  is  complete,  but  he  soon 
ceases  to  be  content  with  his  position.  He 
cares  more  for  the  effect  his  song  produces, 
than  he  does  for  the  song  itself,  and  he  be 
comes  weary  of  the  labor  which  the  work 
requires.  He  falls  into  conventional  ways, 
and  is  satisfied  with  laurels  too  lightly  won. 
At  length  he  sickens  of  popular  applause, 
and  withdraws  for  a  time  from  public  view, 
that  he  may  devote  himself  to  the  task  of 
elaborating  a  more  perfect  instrument  of  ex 
pression.  He  desires  to  make  the  Italian  as 
suitable  for  poetic  use  as  the  more  polished 
Langue  d'Oc ;  he  would  sing  in  the  speech 
of  the  people,  and  so  become  more  fully  the 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     133 

people's  poet.  And  lie  has  a  momentary 
success.  But  he  fails  to  thoroughly  embody 
in  words  the  fervid  perceptions  which  offer 
themselves,  they  are  too  subtle  and  evanes 
cent  to  be  intellectually  apprehended,  or  ex 
pressed.  Up  to  this  moment  he  has  felt 
only,  he  has  not  yet  thought.  The  Man- 
tuans  care  little  for  his  efforts  ;  they  prefer 
to  walk  in  trodden  paths,  and  he  abandons 
his  language,  wrought  with  so  much  care, 
takes  up  the  old  measures  and  the  common 
themes,  and  sings  the  exploits  of  a  crusad 
ing  hero.  Even  now  his  full  meaning  is 
missed,  and  weary  of  being  perpetually  mis 
understood,  Sordello  once  more  withdraws 
from  public  life. 

He  feels  two  natures  struggling  within 
him,  man  and  poet :  the  man  craves  action 
and  life  in  the  world ;  the  poet  longs  for 
solitude  and  song ;  he  cannot  reconcile  the 
two. 

"  Take  things  as  they  are,"  say  the  Man- 
tuans ;  "  suit  yourself  to  the  ordinary  ways 
of  life."  He  tries  and  fails  again. 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

Then  Taurello  comes  to  Mantua,  and  as 
Palma's  minstrel  it  is  Bordello's  duty  to  bid 
him  welcome ;  but  inspiration  fails  him,  and 
he  flees  to  Goito,  where  nature  soothes  his 
grief,  and  calms  his  troubled  soul.  His 
mind  sleeps,  and  he  knows  that  it  does  so. 

Is  it  really  true  that  his  youth  can  never 
return,  that  he  has  forfeited  all  hopes  of 
love  and  power  and  fame  ?  Must  all  aspi 
rations  be  abandoned  forever?  He  feels 
that  even  the  crowd  of  common  men  have 
this  advantage  over  him,  that  they  are  en 
dowed  with  a  personality  distinct  from  what 
they  see,  while  he  is  perpetually  driven  to 
blend  himself  with  all  that  he  beholds.  Is 
it  his  fate  to  be  forever  thrust  aside,  the 
spectator  of  joys  to  which  he  can  never  at 
tain?  Eather  seize  any  happiness  that 
offers !  —  and  with  the  thought  comes  a 
message  bidding  him  return  to  Mantua. 
And  here  love  greets  him  while  Palma 
smiles,  and  whispers  at  once  of  her  love  for 
him  for  whom  she  has  so  long  waited,  and  of 
the  political  schemes  in  which  she  seeks  his 
aid. 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Bordello. 

Of  late  Bordello's  soul  has  been  inspired 
with  a  new  and  more  unselfish  purpose,  the 
wish  to  help  mankind.  He  pities  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  multitude,  and  longs  to  aid.  He 
knows  not  by  what  means  his  ends  are  to  be 
attained,  whether  political  or  social.  He 
sees  the  horrors  of  the  conflict  between 
Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  but  he  feels  sure  that 
there  must  be  some  choice  between  them, 
that  the  great  question  is,  which  can  most 
effectually  help  the  people.  He  talks  with 
Salinguerra,  he  listens  to  Palma,  and  im 
plores  her  to  teach  him  to  play  a  man's  part 
in  the  world,  and,  wandering  through  the 
streets  ravaged  by  war,  he  hears  from  a  by 
stander  in  the  market-place  the  story  of 
Crescentius,  as  it  appears  encircled  with  the 
mythic  glories  of  the  past ;  the  legend  of 
the  Tribune,  who  would  have  built  up  a 
Rome  without  a  Pope  and  without  an  Em 
peror. 

This,  Bordello  fancies,  may  be  his  des 
tined  work.  To  rebuild  Rome !  But  it 
must  be  the  Rome  of  the  People,  and  he 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

finds  that  the  people  as  they  are,  down-trod 
den,  brutal,  ignorant,  are  not  fit  to  be  the 
denizens  of  his  ideal  city.  It  behooves  him 
now  to  remember  how  great  was  the  work 
to  found  the  Rome  of  old  ;  to  remember  how 
men  have  worked  their  way  upward  from 
the  cave-dwellers  to  the  architects  of  palaces 
and  temples ;  that  every  succeeding  step  has 
been  taken  with  weariness  and  toil;  that 
the  many  can  accomplish  more  than  any 
one,  but  that  there  must  always  be  the  one 
man  to  take  the  first  step,  to  lead  the  way, 
it  may  be  to  perish  in  so  doing.  That  the 
work  moves  on  by  slow  degrees,  helped  by 
many  hands.  If  all  coidd  be  instantly 
caught  up  to  the  standpoint  of  one  greatest 
soul,  if  all  epochs  could  be  merged  in  one, 
the  sudden  city  would  glitter  in  splendor  in 
the  noonday  sun,  but  its  citizens  would  be 
unable  either  to  comprehend  or  enjoy  its 
delights. 

And  so  he  puts  that  dream  by.  Then  he 
seems  to  hear  a  voice  within  him  saying  that 
God  has  vouchsafed  to  man  two  sights  :  one 


Study  of  tbe  Character  of  Sordello. 

of  the  future  with  its  completed  work,  that 
perfect  ideal  which  is  to  be  one  day  the 
actual ;  one  of  the  daily  tasks  that  must  be 
wrought  to  make  that  work  complete ;  the 
glimpse  of  the  first  should  encourage  us  to 
undertake  the  second,  to  compass  both  is  be 
yond  the  lot  of  mortal.  Each  must  work 
for  all ;  each  has  his  share,  however  small, 
to  contribute  ;  the  step  that  each  man  takes 
helps  on  the  universal  march. 

But  Sordello  is  not  the  first  who  has 
sought  to  form  mankind  into  a  definite 
shape  —  to  make  of  Humanity  an  organic 
whole.  Centuries  before  there  had  blos 
somed  a  splendid  flower  that  had  drawn  all 
things  into  itself ;  Charles  the  Great  had 
lived,  an  embodiment  of  joyous,  active,  fruit 
ful  life,  incarnate  strength.  Was  it  the  part 
of  Hildebrand  to  spiritualize  this  body? 
Does  the  Empire  represent  strength  and  the 
Church  knowledge?  Has  either  accom 
plished  all  that  it  might  have  done  ?  The 
League  opposes  force  by  force  ;  were  it  not 
better  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  gentle 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

friar  who  is  preaching  of  peace?  Can 
knowledge  render  strength  needless?  Is 
the  work  of  Hildebrand  to  supersede  the 
work  of  Charles  ?  Sordello  believes  so,  and 
determines  to  overthrow  the  latter.  He 
ponders  long,  and  sees  that  the  task  is  be 
yond  his  power,  the  work  is  too  strong  to  be 
destroyed,  the  State  is  needful  to  man ; 
strength  must  be  combined  with  knowledge, 
Caesar  and  Apollo,  knight  and  minstrel, 
must  strive  together  to  the  same  end. 

He  seeks  Salinguerra  to  convert  him  to 
Guelfic  politics,  and  entreat  his  aid  to  bene 
fit  the  world.  There  is  a  strange  mixture 
of  tragedy  and  comedy  in  the  scene  between 
Taurello  and  his  unknown  son,  between  the 
all-accomplished  cavalier  to  whom  all  graces 
come  unsought,  and  the  poet,  old  before  his 
time,  ignorant  of  the  world,  without  tact, 
and  possessed  by  an  idea,  which  yet  does 
not  so  thoroughly  possess  him  as  to  render 
him  oblivious  of  self  and  careless  of  what 
others  may  think  or  say  of  him. 

He  tells  the  fiery  Ghibelline,  whose  life 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     1 39 

has  been  blasted  by  Guelfic  hate,  that  the 
Pope's  cause  is  the  cause  of  humanity;  he 
tells  the  haughty  noble  that  the  one  thing 
that  Lombardy  most  needs  is  to  be  rid  of 
her  barons ! 

Suddenly  he  realizes  the  absurdity  of  the 
situation ;  —  the  god  of  Goito  sunken  into 
a  partisan  of  the  Guelf  s !  But  the  touch  of 
playful  sarcasm  which  Taurello  cannot  re 
sist  rouses  Sordello  at  last  to  something 
really  living,  and  he  bursts  forth  into  a 
splendid  eulogium  of  the  rank  and  functions 
of  the  poet,  and  the  scene  ends  with  the  con 
ferring  of  the  viceroyalty  upon  him  by  Sa- 
linguerra,  and  the  disclosure  by  Palma  of 
the  true  relations  in  which  the  two  stand  to 
each  other.  Then  she  withdraws  the  bewil 
dered  father  from  the  room,  and  Sordello  is 
left  to  meditate  upon  his  position,  and  de 
termine  upon  his  future  course. 

If  he  accept  the  viceroyalty  he  will  have 
all  of  its  best  that  life  can  give  him,  and  he 
longs  for  the  joys  of  life.  Why  should  he 
put  off  the  enjoyment  of  happiness  to  an- 


140    Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

other  world,  to  a  future  state  in  which  he 
may  reproach  himself  that  he  had  under 
valued  the  gifts  of  the  present  ?  If  this  world 
be  indeed  but  the  ante-chamber  of  a  palace, 
so  be  it ;  but  why  assume,  as  yet,  the  airs  of 
the  palace  ?  Never  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
pleasure  will  he  deprive  any  man  of  his 
rights  ;  all  paths  lead  to  the  same  goal,  the 
road  is  free  to  all,  and  all  men  shall  cer 
tainly  arrive  at  last  at  the  longed-for  desti 
nation. 

But  it  may  well  be  that  some  shall  reach 
the  end  toward  which  they  toil  earlier  than 
others  because  they  have  the  advantage  in 
the  start. 

But  is  there,  after  all,  as  some  have  said, 
anything  nobler  to  be  attained  than  earthly 

joy? 

If  that  indeed  be  so,  for  that  supreme 
happiness  he  will  gladly  forego  all  present 
delights. 

But  what  is  the  true  path  into  which  the 
loftiest  aspirations  should  lead  his  steps? 
What  is  the  cause  of  truth  and  duty  and 
God? 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     141 

He  had  believed  it  possible  for  him  to 
find  a  third  cause  to  which  to  consecrate  his 
powers,  the  cause  of  the  people,  but  it  seems 
to  him  now  that  from  the  people  themselves 
he  can  look  for  but  little  assistance ;  the 
third  cause  is  not  yet,  at  least,  self-support 
ing,  it  cannot  stand  alone.  He  believes 
that  it  must  be  committed  to  the  guardian 
ship  of  one  of  the  two  parties  which  seem  to 
divide  the  world  between  them,  that  he 
must  range  himself  with  either  Guelf  or 
Ghibelline. 

And  he  believes,  too,  that  the  choice  lies 
with  the  Guelf  s.  Without  experience,  prone 
to  theorize  with  but  a  slight  comprehension 
of  facts  as  a  basis,  he  decides  that  the  world 
must  be  saved  through  knowledge,  and  that 
this  knowledge  is  to  be  found  in  the  Church 
alone. 

He  makes,  as  he  thinks,  the  choice  be 
tween  Charles  and  Hildebrand;  had  he 
comprehended  the  work  of  the  first  Teutonic 
Emperor,  he  had  not  so  believed;  had  he 
known  anything  of  the  Hohenstaufen  in 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

whose  reign  he  lived,  he  would  never  have 
so  fatally  misjudged. 

But  in  his  frame  of  mind  the  imperial 
viceroyalty  comes  to  him  in  the  guise  of  a 
temptation  to  abandon  his  convictions  of 
right,  and  for  once  in  his  life  Sordello  gath 
ers  up  all  his  forces  for  one  mighty  effort, 
one  great  struggle  to  overcome.  And  the 
effort  is  in  itself  a  triumph.  He  flings  the 
Caesar's  badge  upon  the  ground,  and  tram 
ples  beneath  his  feet  its  glittering  lure. 
Action  is  forbidden  him  ;  his  only  privilege 
is  to  renounce,  and  when  he  resolutely 
thrusts  behind  him  all  the  joys  of  earth, 
death  opens  to  him  in  mercy  the  gates  of 
Heaven.  He  has  won  a  spiritual  victory 
and  the  reward  of  all  efforts  to  overcome 
self,  and  to  grasp  a  noble  ideal  is  his. 

"  'T  is  better  to  have  fought,  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  fought  at  all !  " 

But  for  his  failures  in  courage,  in  faith  and 
judgment,  the  world,  alas  !  must  suffer. 

He  could  not  see  that,  for  good  or  for 
evil,  something  can  always  be  done,  if  the 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     143 

fixed  will  to  do  exist;  that  his  own  judg 
ment  in  political  affairs  was  too  devoid  of 
experience  to  be  of  any  value,  and  that  in 
taking  up  the  work  which  was  placed  at  his 
disposal  he  would  have  secured  an  unri 
valed  opportunity  to  aid  the  suffering,  and 
relieve  the  oppressed. 

His  inexperience  of  the  world,  his  inca 
pacity  to  forget  himself,  his  scorn  of  gradual 
progress  toward  the  desired  end,  joined  to 
Palma's  inability  to  inspire  him  with  her 
own  spirit,  all  led  him  astray. 

As  it  seemed  to  him,  the  viceroyalty  was 
a  temptation,  and  he  justly  spurned  it,  but 
then  came  in  his  place  the  sons  of  Romano, 
and  made  the  land  a  hell. 

The  language  he  had  abandoned,  Dante,  a 
century  later,  made  an  unsurpassed  vehicle, 
not  only  of  the  most  fervid  perception,  but 
of  the  profoundest  thought.  The  political 
views  he  rejected  were  the  life  of  Dante's 
soul,  as  deeply  felt  and  as  sincerely  cher 
ished  as  his  religion.  But  he  combined 
strength  and  knowledge  ;  he  was  Caesar  and 


144    Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello. 

Apollo,  Man  and  Poet  in  one.  And  he  did 
much.  "  Sordello's  chance,"  says  Mr. 
Browning,  "  was  gone." 

But  Dante  never  forgot  that  Sordello  had 
taken  one  of  those  first  steps  which  cost, 
albeit  he  had  not  the  faith  or  persistence  to 
continue  in  the  path  upon  which  he  had  en 
tered.  The  future  generations  gave  to  the 
Sordello  of  legend  all  the  worldly  success 
which  he  had  so  vainly  longed  for,  and  fan 
cied  him  triumphant  as  warrior,  statesman, 
and  lover ;  but  his  truest  glory  is,  that,  first 
of  northern  Italians,  he  strove  to  sing  to  the 
people  in  their  own  tongue,  that  he  took  the 
first  step  upon  that  Sacred  Way  over  which 
Dante  marched  in  triumph. 

On  the  Mount  of  Purgatory,  gracious  and 
calm,  but  lonely  as  on  earth,  the  Mantuan 
Sordello  greets  the  Mantuan  Virgil,  his  im 
mortal  countryman,  and  gives  a  kindly  wel 
come  to  the  mighty  Tuscan,  who  is  destined 
so  grandly  to  fulfill  what  had  been  to  the 
Troubadour  aspirations  only. 

And  on  the  sunny  slopes  of  Mount  Par- 


Study  of  the  Character  of  Sordello.     145 

nassus,  where  the  divine  Apollo  sits,  sur 
rounded  by  his  disciples,  there,  among  the 
greatest  poets  of  the  world,  has  Raphael 
placed  Sordello. 

The  lofty  poet,  whose  vision  penetrated 
into  the  darkest  abysses  and  the  most  ra 
diant  splendors  of  the  other  world,  a  sorrow 
ful  exile  from  his  native  city,  unites  with 
the  gentle,  happy  painter  in  rendering  im 
mortal  the  name  of  one  whose  earthly  life 
had  seemed  to  himself  a  failure,  whose  one 
supreme  success  was  the  renunciation  of  all 
the  joys  of  earth  and  even  of  life  itself. 


Robert  Browning's  Works. 


That  Mr.  Browning  is  the  strongest  man  who 
now  writes  English  poetry  —  the  strongest  who 
has  written  since  Milton  died  —  no  sane  man 
will  deny.  — F.  J.  FURNIVALL. 


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In  the  case  of  Robert  Browning  we  find  an  originality 
which,  of  itself,  is  one  of  the  strongest  imaginable  claims 
upon  respect,  and  one  of  the  greatest  imaginable  attrac 
tions.  We  rejoice  in  the  vigor  and  self-reliance  of  such 
a  minstrel :  we  honor  the  manliness  of  his  muse.  Write 
what  he  will,  and  how  he  will,  no  lover  of  poetry,  or  stu 
dent  of  language,  can  fail  to  enjoy  and  profit  by  his  verse. 
—  New  York  Times. 

Whilst  he  stands  among  the  foremost  of  living  poets, 
his  wealth  of  thought,  his  bold  and  strong  imagination, 
his  quaint  fancy  and  subtle  humor,  are  clothed  in  a  rich 
diction,  so  involved,  and  at  times  so  obscure,  that  to  read 
him  is  working  a  mine  to  obtain  treasures  such  as  he  alone 
has  to  bestow,  and  that  fully  reward  the  toil,  however 
great.  —  Boston  Transcript. 


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